7227/The Question Of The Day

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The Question Of The Day
Date of Scene: 13 April 2019
Location: Central Heights - Old Gotham
Synopsis: Batman, Robin, Red Robin, and Blackbird are caught in Riddler's (NPC) trap. Red Hood and Kestrel arrive in time to help stop Riddler from gassing an apartment building.
Cast of Characters: Shadowcat, Batman, Red Robin, Robin (Wayne), Red Hood, Carrie Kelley, Riddler




Shadowcat has posed:
Nighttime falls on Gotham. In some places the approach of night is a thing to be enjoyed or cherished. Watching the sun sinking into Pacific waves, or drifting down behind majestic mountains. In Gotham it heralds the emergence of things that slink through shadows, eyeing the surrounding populace, many of whom hurry for their homes against the approach of night. Many are looking for their night's prey.

But not everyone that is out this late is seeking the good townfolk as prey. Kitty Pryde is dressed in her new costume, black with grey markings, and a domino mask to conceal her face. She is currently scaling a building. A tall, twenty-story apartment high rise, situated beside a vacant three-story factory on one side and a church on the other. She has climbing claws on her wrists, and also a belt about her waist with a bare assortment of equipment, though she is not certain if tonight's training exercise with Batman is going to include it, or if it is just to get her used to the weight and feel of it.

She checks a balcony for signs of life, but eschews it to help her climb for the light shining out of the resident's windows that might reveal her if there were someone looking out. Sticking to the shadows, she uses more difficult handholds to pull herself up, her previous ninjutsu training augmented by what she's learning under Gotham's Dark Knight. She continues up, nearing the roof.

Batman has posed:
     Batman is on the steepled rooftop of another building. Pulling out his binoculars, he is watching Shadow Bat's climb. If this were in the cave, he would have Tim, Dick, Damian or someone pop out of a window. Honestly, the strange move can be a good idstraction tactic. Also, it's a good way to see a trainee improvise. The black of his cape has him mostly concealed, save for the arms. One is making sure Batman is secure in his spot. The other is holding the binoculars. She is progressing decently.

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake is actually up at the top of the building the new bat is climbing. He is waiting and watching. The young man watches over the edge on occasion. He does hmmms softly to himself thinking about something and subvocals. "You know if we have her or Kestel make a few apperances, might be able to lure Stockholm out, she seems to want to fight the lady bats.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin stood on top of the high-rise. Looking down as Kitty makes her climb. The bats of course used grapples, but that's a luxury afforded to them after such training.

  Robin didn't offer words of encouragement or anything. He was there to intervene should she fall.

  "Pfft. Afraid to take on the big bat himself?" He comments on the subvocals. "Disappointing. Says nothing about gender equality."

Shadowcat has posed:
Each steady movement by the female costumed hero takes her a little further up. Spotting each option for handhold and foothold, and checking how concealed she will be. She has been fairly fearless when it comes to climbing, but then she has options not available to most should she fall.

She reaches a spot that there are no shadows to cover. Kitty readies herself for a leap, but muscles relaxed as she waits. There, a car backfiring, something that might draw any watching eyes to it. She leaps to grab the handhold further up and pull herself into the shadows again.

Steady progress continues until she's grasping the edge of the roof and pulling herself up and over it. Her breathing is just a little harder than normal after the 20-story climb. She moves away from the edge where she'd cast a silhouette against the night sky, before rising fully. "I'm game if that would be a good plan," she says. She glances over at the two Robins. "I really need to decide on a name. Red Hood suggested 'Silhouette'. And Kestrel and I came up with 'Black Bird', as the leading candidates. The latter would keep with the theme better."

If Kitty was about to say more, it is cut off by the sounds of gunfire from down below. She moves over to the edge of the building, staying low as she listens to locate it. Sounds like they are coming from the vacant factory. First a few individual shots. Then sounds of automatic weapons fire. Even two loud bangs that might be some kind of grenade? There are occasional flashes in the windows which are two stories off the ground, consistently timed with the sound of the shots.

Batman has posed:
     Batman chimes in on the subvocals, "Stockholm has her modus operandi. Nothing can replace skill. Never undestimate anyone, because you never know someone's skill. And skill doesn't judge by race, creed, religion, or sex." This is Batman's way of saying, the "Batgirls" are just as good as the "Batboys." In some ways, he is a SJW when it comes to this mentality. Skill is the difference between someone that actually knows how to handle a weapon, and some dufus that just thinks he does while running on a treadmill. A gunshot rings out from below, and Batman points the binoculars downard just to get a sign of the situation before dropping down.

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake will turn to look at the going on at thw warehouse, and at the flashes. He pulls out a grapple and shoots for the churches steeple. Once secured there he will secure this end to something sturdy on the rooftop. It is a bit steap, but they should be able to slide down said rope, and attaching it to the church keeps it from being heard by the warehouse.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "That is what I was getting at, Father She underestimates herself by limiting herself. Black Canary is taken, Hawk and Dove too, there are a lot of bird names in this game." Damian chimes in, then his attention is brought to the gunfire. Immediately he holds two fingers on his mask, taking in the situation.

  He holds out a grapple gun to ShadowBat, before reaching for another on his belt. "Taking the loading dock." He comments, gliding down for the stealthiest approach.

Shadowcat has posed:
There are a half-dozen cars in the parking lot. Mostly sedans and pick up trucks, with one commercial-style van. The windows are only semi-transparent, making it tough to tell more through them that there are flashes of light, and that there is dim lighting inside other than that.

The front doors are metal double doors with barred windows in them, the locks standard and easy enough to pick. Inside the front doors is an entry area, with doors that lead into the main factory space most likely. The roof looks like it has a doorway as well allowing roof access from inside, and a ladder runs from the ground all the way up to it, with one of those security cages to help make sure someone doesn't fall once they have gone a certain height.

Kitty takes the offered grapple. "Got it," she tells him. She looks over the building to try to pick out the best spot to aim for. Finding some thick metal pipes along the exterior side wall near the loading dock, she lets loose and the grapple wraps about it. A test tug is given and then Kitty secures the other end to the apartment roof. She looks over to Damian for his confirmation she's handled it properly before she goes over, using her climbing claws as a hook to slide down the grapple line.

Ziiiip! The dark-clad woman slides down the line, legs bending to keep her reaching the building quiet. She drops the few feet to the ground and then goes over to check the side door. Spotting an electronic keypad, she quickly begins removing it to get at the wires. "Ok, can open this when ready." She could also phase any or all of them through the wall or door, but is keeping those abilities secret from adversaries for now if possible.

Batman has posed:
     "I've got the roof, stay sharp." Batman says to the group. "Visuals. Radio silence unless necessary, Batman out," then he drops. The man falls for a little bit, before extending that cape to form the giant bat that helps him float down to the roof. When he is close enough, the cape will return to normal and he will do a rolling summersault with the landing. The roll transfers the kinetic force from the landing. Any damage to the body transfers through and around. In a sense, he's just rolling with it. Afterward he'll rise slowly then head to the door. Looking back to where the group was he is trying to see where they are going to land.

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake hooks a slide on his rope, and starts sliding down it. He uses a presure to control the speed of downslide, and as he nears the building he will make a leap to catch himself on one of the window sills. Once he has found his footing on the wall he check for alarms there and if none start working on one of the windows as his entry point.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian lands on the roof, then with assistance of his cape, lands softly on the dock. He tries the latch on the door, finding it locked he extracts his lock picks from his glove. A simple rake and turning on the tension wrench allows Robin access to the warehouse.

  He quickly takes cover at the nearest possible spot. He looks up, trying to find a spot to grapple up so he can get the best attack point.

Shadowcat has posed:
Inside the factory is mostly one large space with a smaller set of rooms in front for a foyer and a few offices. The big area is three stories tall, and has some cranes built into the ceiling, capable of sliding on rails there to reach various spots in the large room.

A lot of different equipment boxes, crates, tall racks of shelving, can be found about the open factory area. It is kind of haphazardly placed, not in a layout that you would expect for a working factory, and some bits of machinery look like they've been moved from where they stood for a decade, based on the discolorations on the floor.

The roof access leads to a landing and then a catwalk that runs around the outside edge of the room, as well as two lengths of catwalk that cut across the middle of the room in each direction to meet in the very middle, allowing workers access to the overhead cranes. There is also a set of stairs that lead down from the catwalk, reaching the ground near the front of the building.

All of that is detail, some of which might be missed given there is currently a gun fight going on. Men in fairly normal street clothing are in cover down below, and firing at each other. Though the gunfire has died down from it's initial frenzy, as if people are conserving ammo perhaps. There seem to be two sides to the gunfight. Though based on where the cover is available, each side is split into two groups. Leaving four separate concentrations of gunment.

Batman has posed:
     On the roof, Batman pulls out a lockpick from his belt. To him, this is child's play. A simple lock, even if it's a complex lock on the door, it's nothing like Oracle, Fort Knox, or anyone else could rig up. Those are the ones that take time, even if they're just a few more locks compared to most buildings. Once inside, he quietly works his way down from the roof. Keeping to teh shadows, he doesn't move outrageously. Everything is slow, intentional, or quick rushes from shadow to shadow when no one is looking. While he doesn't know it yet, once Batman gets to the catwalk, that willbe where he strikes from. A tactical advantage of height and surprise.

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake does a quick look over the faces he can see, trying to determine who is fighting who here today. He does move towards one of the front groups the one nearest the exit. Moving in darkness and quietly to get in a position above and behind them.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin grapples up to the rafters, using the lights of the warehouse to conceal his brightly colored uniform.

  He gets in position above a couple of shooters, waiting to attack as one with the others. He truly smiled at this, one of his favorite parts of patrolling.

Shadowcat has posed:
Blackbird slips off her climbing claws and opens the delivery door only enough to peek beneath. When she sees a good moment where the gunmen are distracted, she slips beneath it and over into cover of her own, down on the floor level with the gunmen.

She peeks out, looking over to locate the gunmen, and then finding Batman, Robin and Red Robin. Seeing where they are positioning themselves, the young woman stealthily moves from one bit of cover to another, until she's poised to be able to attack the group of gunmen that are not already being covered by the three masked vigilantes. She squats in position behind a barrel, watching and waiting until the others spring the trap.

The gunmen don't seem aware that the caped crime fighters are there. Peeking out to squeeze off occasional shots from time to time, making the others keep their distance, but not consuming too much of their own ammunition. There are about five gunmen in each group, mostly armed with pistols, but each group has at least one person with a submachine gun or automatic rifle.

Batman has posed:
     "Move over a quadraint to the rafters. It's a grid. Pick your square. Those are your target. On my mark," Batman says low over the coms. And he gives everyone a moment to get into position just so space isn't avoided. Batman tries to pick the one with the highest threat, because it keeps more reinforcements off of the group. This is Black Bird's firstbigmission. He knows she has seen threats before, but this is still a psuedo training wheels move. Also, he would rather be the one getting shot at than the Robins. Both were capable though, it is still a protective parent motion even ifno oen picks up on it exactly. It's not like he says, "NO ONE CAN FIGHT!" Just, he sometimes takes the bigger threat, unless Red Hood or Robin beat him to it. They do like the rush of a bigger fish, so to speak.

Red Robin has posed:
Tim Drake 's staff is brought to hand not extended yet. He prepares himself for the dance. He has spotted his pattern and is ready to begin it. The young man may not be the fighter the other two are, but he was trained by one of them and one of the most dangerous women ever.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian nods, waiting for the word, he balled his fists, and removed two birdarangs, opting to not use his sword.

  After Batman gives the word, he jumps down on one thug, and throwing the birdarangs at the other two's guns. He was disarming, allowing for himself to face the other two with his feet and fists.

Shadowcat has posed:
When the signal is given by Batman, the Blackbird springs into action. A pair of smoke grenades roll across the floor, one obscuring the gunmen in her quadrant, the other providing her cover from gunmen in the other parts of the building as she makes her approach, moving swiftly but body kept very low to the ground.

A man hears the grenade rolling and turns as the smoke begins to bellow up around him. He fires the gun wildly in the direction he believes the grenade came from. His shots pass well over Blackbird's head, the reason for her crouched approach. As she nears the man, she rolls forward, a leg lashing out sweep the gunman's legs out from beneath him, and then a fist smashing his face s he falls to the ground, banging his head into the floor and knocking him out.

She uses her momentum to continue forward, going for the man shot saw had a submachine gun. He turns and fires, spraying wildly as Blackbird kicks up from beneath as she does a full flip, sending the muzzle up into the air as her foot strikes it. Her trail foot catches him under the chin and lays him out as Blackbird ends back crouched on the factory floor in the smoke, with three gunmen left to deal with.

Batman has posed:
     And when Batman goes down, he uses the chaos for a moment of confusion. Landing atop of one of them, Batman drives all of his force down. Before he jumped, he did load smoke bombs into his hands. Byt he time he hits, the smoke bombs brake open. As the gray cloud starts tofillthe vision, he uses the condition to his advantage. Also, deep down, Batman likes the tactic. This is one that keeps fear alive. Keeps the myths going of being unseen, inhuman. A black gauntlet reaches out into the smoke, drags a man backinto it. Screams echo between body blows. Next he'll go with a tackle that creats a loud "OOOMPH." He'll continue systematically until one can be grabbed and slammed into the ground hard. Batman will loom over the suspect, "Who gave you this job?" the question comes out angry. Just to create a little morefear, he'll almost growl, "NOW." That black cape nearly consumes the both of them creating that supernatural consumption of the darkness. Too many gangs in Gotham, Batman isseeing if this is an independent operation or not.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian makes short work of the second thug, kicking him square on the chin, before he moves to his next victim. Three punches, one to the solar plexus, the others to soft tissues, and a kidney. By the time the dust settles, Damian has the guy on his knees and in a chokehold. "Details, before you need to be put in a full-body cast. Who are you working for?"

Shadowcat has posed:
Red Robin also uses smoke pellets to cloak his approach. From the billow clouds of dark smoke come the sounds of repeated staff strikes impacting flesh and metal. A submachine gun comes sliding out of the smoke across the floor, the stock broken in half by a staff hit. Cries of pain accompany the blows until finally there is only silence to be heard in Red Robin's quadrant.

Over in her own area, Blackbird rushes a gunmen, jumping up to wrap his head between her legs as she swings around him, gaining momentum, then clamping down to transfer it to the man, sending him flying head over heels into a stack of pallets. A batarang is whipped out to hit a gunhand and cause his pistol to fire once harmlessly before clattering to the ground. A flurry of punches down that man before the last tries to flee, only to get his feet wrapped with a bolo. Blackbird runs over to kick the gun away from him, and then begins binding the hands of the other men who are down.

Batman's question of the man he's subdued gets an answer. But not from the person he expected.

"Ah hah hah hah HAH!" a voice calls out, booming from speakers. The voice will be familiar to Batman. One of those that he could likely do without having ever heard again. Batman will know who it is even before a projector starts up, shining the image of The Riddler upon the warehouse wall.

A split second later, cage bars shoot up out of the floor around each quadrant going all the way to the ceiling, and turning the room into four large cells, one with a hero in each.

"Riddle me this, Batman," the Riddler's voice says as the image of him leans forward on a cane, smiling a jaunty smile. "Four bats and birdies, all caught in cages. Having to face the riddles of the ages. You'd better be right, so give your best try. For if you fail, yon apartment residents will die. Die. DIE." Riddler breaks out in more insane-sounding laughter as he claps his hands. "Four traps I planted, each worth five floors of harm. Answer my riddles and I'll give you their means to disarm." He looks around at the four trapped superheroes. "Alright, who wants to go first!?"

Batman has posed:
%      "I'll go, Batman's voice booms as he sees that the cage bars are up. They're probably rigged to something. Either it would harm people other than the person that touches them or the persont hat touches the. He does cycle through his visuals trying to see if there is heat source somewhere, he is trying to somehow track a power source, if possible. This just him thinking outside teh box a little bit. He is unsure what to do exactly other than answer the riddles.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin had stepped forward, about to volunteer first. But Batman beat him to it.

  He starts to feel out what he has available to him. The forklift catches his eye, once he zip-ties the three now unconscious goons.

  Once he's in the forklift, he deciphers how to drive it, OSHA would have a field day with this place.

Batman has posed:
Seeing the way the wires go, "Black Bird. Office outside," he's wondering if she can phase outside to the power station. Although, he does get out the chains looking about theplace for a moment. Wondering what he can use to overload the bars, So, he is looking over everything, trying to figure out how to wire up the chain between two objects without killing himself, or anyone else. Jus cause it to overload itself.

Shadowcat has posed:
Either Riddlerdoesn't mind that Robin is in the forklift, or the smoke that is still dissipating might be making it tough for him to see everything going on in the cells. Red Robin pops a smoke grenade and throws it at Riddler's image on the wall. It just bounces off harmlessly of course, and causes Riddler to laugh at his lame attempt. But the ricocheting smoke grenade lands where the smoke will help cover Robin an the forklift, just as Red Robin intended.

Riddler claps his hands again. "Oh good. I thought you might hold yourself for last. But I so do hate waiting. Your trap has the most people present on their floors, of course, Batman. I wouldn't have that any other way!" Riddler proclaims loudly through the speakers.

As Riddler is focused on Batman and the riddle he is about to give, Blackbird stays crouched beside the man she's finished ziptying. Already near to the ground, there's not much motion as she sinks down into the factory's concrete foundation and out of sight.

"Now then!" Riddler says. "We're five little items of an everyday sort. You'll find us all in 'a tennis court'. What are we, Batman? Tick tock. Tick tock."

Batman has posed:
     Pausing, Batman just waits a moment. Sometimes the Riddler likes it when the time ticks down, makes his ego feel good. From his training as a youth, Bruce had all sorts of English lessons. Eventually, he will answer as the time is ticking down. "Vowels. A, E, I, O and U," Batman says firmly as he waits for the angry response. Those lense covered eyees look toward the speaker as she is expecting just a negative outburst.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin gives a nod to Tim, continuing his testing. He tests to make sure the forklift is operational.

  But as Batman answers, he looks up from the forklift. Trying to find something he can use to his advantage with this tool.

  When the riddle is answered, Robin looks back to the wall where Nygma's visage is projected.

Shadowcat has posed:
The cry of anger and rage that comes through the speakers has a slightly unhinged sound to it. "You... why you... you couldn't have solved that on your own, Batman!" Riddler cries over the speakers, a snarl on his face on the projection on the factory wall.

Robin spots some barrels in his cell that indicate they have acid in them. One that would eat through metal. Also through his boots and feet. Though if delivered to the bars and an opening was made, there might be several ways overtop of the resulting acid pool.

Blackbird stays in the foundation, hurrying through the cement until she thinks she's made the front of the factory. She pops up above floor and begins searching. Eventually she finds some unusual wiring going into a circuit box. Yanking the out of place cables, she says into her subvocal mike, "Underground power cables shut down. Returning to my cell." She ducks back underground, trying to hurry back before the smoke clears enough that her absence will be noted.

Red Robin steps forward to say, "Alright, my turn."

Meanwhile, Alfred has been monitoring the situation. "Master Todd, Miss Kelley. The others have been captured by the Riddler. He says he's planted four traps in a nearby apartment building, each capable of taking out five floors of residents. The others have to answer riddles to get the means to disable them. Can you deal with the traps, or perhaps it would be better to track down Riddler and disarm them from there? Sending you the location."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian makes for the acid barrel. Using the forklift to put the barrel up and away from the other three. Climbing up the forklift was easy, next a calmly calculated batarang to the barrel, aiming the resulting spray towards the bars. He tosses a couple smoke pellets before the last grenades show what he is doing to the Riddler. Now his cell was pooling acid, and it's a game of real world the floor is lava.

Red Hood has posed:
"What, they can't handle it themselves? Come on, this is my off day, Alfred. The NBA playoffs are one, I'm totally pulling for the Raptors, and there's no LeBron. This is going to be a great year." Jason's on his couch at the Brownstone, TV on. Yes, he knew Kitty had training today, but he had promised to go hands off in all of it to allow the young woman to bond with his family without him helecoptoring or whatever.

"Master Todd, Kitty was caught in the trap as well."

"Can't she just you know, walk through walls and all?" he asks, already rising from his seat to go get changed. Fine. He's going, he's going. He just doesn't have to be all 'oh my god my girlfriend is in trouble' about it.

"I'm sure she could just as easily as she could leave you for not worrying about you, Master Todd."

"Pfft. Don't play that card, Alfred."

"Don't be like Master Bruce, Master Todd."

"I'm going, I'm going." Pulling the motorcycle out of the garage, it's a short trip to the Subway station and then on to the apartment complex. He pulls up about a block away and reaches up to tap the side of his helmet. "Okay, if Babs were here, she'd be looking to track the signals for the remotes. For him to do this unrestricted, he needs to be higher than the building. So." He looks for the tallest building nearby that has a view of the apartment. Because Riddler likes to watch.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley was doing... not much of anything really. Her roommate was out, Abbadon was already back home at Wayne Manor, and it was Spring Break for her college. That meant she was currently at home on her couch watching Youtube on her laptop while debating how she'd come to have no life outside of school and patroling. Hm. Then the call comes from Alfred rousing her from yet another gadget review.

"Riddler? Guess that's one I can help with a bit. I'll be there soon as I can," she assures the butler as she dips into her room to make a quick change and be on her way to the provided location.

It takes her a smidge longer than Jason to arrive since she doesn't have any fancy vehicles like the others, but traversing rooftops really did help cut out a lot of traffic and unnecessary re-routing due to the city layout. Kestrel lands near Jason glancing his way with a simple nod. "Any update yet?"

Shadowcat has posed:
After Batman defeated Riddler's first riddle, he's more than eager to give one to Red Robin and see him fail. His eagerness is an extra blind spot that gives Robin time to work the forklift behind the cover of the smoke screen that still blankets much of his cell. The acid starts to seep through the bars. It's powerful stuff and the metal starts to sizzle and even run in molten streams down to the floor, leaving a gap in the cell large enough for Robin to fit through.

"Riddle me this, Boy Blunder. What has neither nails or bones, but has four fingers and a thumb?" the 20 feet high projected of the image asks Red Robin. The question causes Red Robin to have pause, arms crossing and a hand going to his chin in thought. "Neither nails nor bones," he repeats. "A hand has both. But a painting of a hand doesn't but that doesn't sound right," he says.

"Tick tock, tick toy, Robin who can't come up with a better name for himself than 'Red'!" Riddler proclaims. "Oh, their screams will all be on your head," he says as he moves his hand towards a control panel."

Red Robin holds up his hand as if to get Riddler to stop. Only the gesture is more than that, it's his answer. "A glove. Four fingers and a thumb, but no bones or nails," he says, gesturing to his costume's glove.

Riddler lets out a squeal of hatred as his riddle is solved. Over along one wall, where a few boxes are set on a table, two of them open on their own, revealing golden keys, apparently the means to disarm the traps after two riddles have been solved. Meanwhile, Blackbird has managed to return to her cell. "I thought this guy was supposed to be tricky?" she says, trying to keep his attention away from Robin, knowing that seeing an escape could cause Riddler to set off the traps.

Shadowcat has posed:
Outside, Jason is able to spot a likely location for Riddler to be. A commercial building, with some signs out front that indicate there is office space available for rent. When he begins scanning, he finds a steady stream of data coming over wireless from that direction, as if someone were streaming video.

Most of the building looks deserted. There is one floor that has lights on in a number of the windows. One window on the floor is dark, though. The building is about eight stories tall, the second tallest in the area apart from the apartment building that is at risk.

Red Hood has posed:
"Riddler's up there. The Scobby gang's in the building." Jason gestures toward the tentament. "Got a gizmo to take Riddler off line? I ain't techy like you ladies are." Hood offers with a grunt as he reaches out to take his grapple gun. "I'm going to go ask Edward a riddle of my own." he says as he fires the line to catch the side of the building and start heading up.

"What do you call a bear with no teeth?"

"A gummy bear. Which is all he's going to be able to chew on when I'm done with him."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian uses the gap to pass through the bars. Quickly climbing to the ceiling.

  "Robin, I've escaped. I'm going after Riddler. Blackbird is last, then me."

  He runs to the office building, shooting his grapple to join Red Hood. "I doubt he has a dead man's switch." He comments, readying himself to make an ingress on Nygma.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel spreads her hands out with a little puzzled frown at the question. Of course she did hang out with the Birds so it wasn't a hard assumption. "Sorry, no. I've pretty much just got a graple, smoke pellets and flashbangs, my slingshot and my suit. That's basically my kit." Well, and a few other tidbits she could fit in her utility belt.

In spite of it she follows after Jason with a simple, "But I *can* spot things and know how to disable a lot of electronic devices. If he's in there I imagine he must have put a few traps or alerts in case someone sneaks up on him."

Shadowcat has posed:
The Riddler's gigantic image on the wall turns towards Blackbird. "You, I'm not familiar with. I'm supposed to be the one giving surprises here. Who are you?"

Blackbird moves forward, hands on her hips and lifting a foot to rest on the chest of one of the ziptied hoods. "The name's Blackbird. Consider me the new girl in town," she tells the large projected image. "Not a very nice welcome either, this cage. Most people go with a bottle of wine," she says, trying to stall while Robin is making his way out to join the others in going after Riddler himself.

"Wine? You want wine? I'll make you whine when you hear people screaming, their lungs bubbling with their blood. That's what you get for associating with him," Riddler says, pointing a hand in the direction of Batman's cell.

"Very well, little Blackbird. You want me to be tricky? I'll be tricky. There are three men in a boat with four cigarettes but no matches. How do they manage to smoke?" he asks Blackbird.

Blackbird scratches her head as if perplexed. "They don't have any matches, or maybe it's a lifeboat with an emergency kit and there's a magnifying glass they can use with the sun?" she muses.

"That's not how this works! Batman! Don't you train these people!?" Riddler complains, stamping his feet and waving his hands. "You don't ask the questions. /I/ ask the questions, Blackbird!" he says.

Meanwhile, those moving up the side of the office building outside might notice a shadow in that unlit window, darker than the rest, gesticulating about. A definite human silhouette.

Back in the factory... Blackbird seems perplexed. Batman moves as if to say something and Riddler moves a finger over a button. "Say one word, Batman, and they ALL DIE." He removes his hand as Batman stills himself. "Well Blackbird? Your time is up. Time to hear the screams of the dying."

Blackbird holds up a hand, "I can't think of anything they can do with four cigarettes. I guess they'd have to... throw one out of the boat, to make it a cigarette lighter."

Riddler's scream can be heard through the glass of the office building's window now as the three climbing heroes draw near to it. From that vantage, they can see he has a control center nearby, within arm's reach. Taking him down fast will be necessary. There are also two gun-toting goons in the room further back, though standing guard on the door rather than the window.

Red Hood has posed:
As Damian joins him on the rooftop, Hood pauses, glancing aside at the kid. Glancing over the outfit, he comments, "He give you back your Nintendo, too?" There's amusement in his tone. Though it's laced with a little of the relief. Welcome back, Robin.

As the silhouette is all flustered, he can't help but to smile. "That's my girl." he says about Blackbird, before gesturing to Damian, and the door. And then to Kestrel. "I'd say ladies first, but age before beauty, eh?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin takes out a Batclaw, ready to catch and drag Riddler from the button in the most expedient fashion. "So Which one are you? Certainly not young or beautiful." Damian quips with a smile.

  "Kestrel, a pleasure to see you." He offers Carrie, accompanied by a smirk. He was more than pleased to be back in red, gold, and green.

  "Screw it, we are running out of time. Grab the guards and I'll grab Nygma. You can practice dentistry after he's away from the button." Damian says with a chuckle, jumping with his grapple to fulcrum off the building and into the window. As soon as he is through, he'll shoot at Riddler and drag him away from his console.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel nods with a flash of a grin toward Robin's greeting. "Same," she offers back as her eyes sweep over to the building to take in the situation. The figures in the window are watched as the two (or mainly Damian) decide on a game plan. The window was big enough to see all three men through, but for three others to be barging in the same way? It just wasn't going to happen. She'd get in the way.

Her hand dips down to her belt snagging her slingshot in one hand and a handfull of steel pellets in the other. It's drawn back, aim taken, and as soon as Robin breaks through the glass she lets her shots fly at one of the guards. Her aim was low to go for the most vital, easily bruised area that would down a man quickly.

Shadowcat has posed:
The Riddler is beside himself. He thought the first two riddles might be figured out, but did not expect that one too. "No, no, no! You're cheating! You must be cheating somehow!" he complains, turning away from his monitor to look at the window. Just in time for his eyes to get big as he sees Robin's feet swinging towards the window and smashing it in.

Things begin to happen fast. Robin crashes through the glass and shoots the Batclaw at Riddler. Nygma manages to lift his cane but the claw closes atop his hand where it grips it. He howls in pain and tries to reach for the control panel to set off his traps. His fingers make it within inches before Robin is able to tug back, the two men in a tug of war with the lives of innocents on the line!

Kestrel shoots at one of the guards, nailing him right in the baby-maker. He cries out in pain and doubles over before falling to his knees, clutching at his groin. The other guard jerks up in surprise, and pulls his gun and shoots at Robin, the bullet hitting the outside edge of his shoulder.

Inside the factory, Batman, Red Robin and Blackbird see the tug o' war with Nygma playing out on the giant screen. Batman cuts the chain holding back the huge pipes and they crash through his cell's bars, freeing him. Blackbird runs over to grab Red Robin, and together they phase through the bars. Joining Batman at his quick order, she phases him as well as they sprint through the factor walls, heading for the apartment building to try to find the traps.

Red Hood has posed:
With Carrie and Damian going after Nygma, and Blackbird helping Robin with the others, Jason's kind of the odd-man out. But he's already tracking the radio transmissions through his HUD. "Shut down those transmitters." he snaps towards Kestrel, before diving off the side of the building, snapping out a line to grapple and send him slinging towards the apartment building.

Bombs in buildings /might/ be a sore spot for the middle child, his eyes narrowing beneath his Hood as he's crashing through a window in an abandoned fifth floor apartment and rolling as he pulls out his gear to prepare to get to work.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The bullet hits his pauldron, not managing to pierce the armor, but it still hurts like a bitch. Damian's arm is incapacitated momentarily, but he manages to release the PEPS launcher from his gauntlet, springing it at Carrie. "Top button. Aim and depress it." The launcher uses bursts of electric gel to incapacitate and tase offenders.

  Thinking quickly, Damian wraps his ankle in the batclaw wire and uses that for leverage, pinioning it with his foot and using his strong legs to jerk Nygma back more. "Not today, Riddler." He comments, keeping up his tug-of-war.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel reassesses on the fly. The guy she shot at was down, and Jason was opting to go into the apartment building instead of after the goons. It was her turn to fire off her grappel gun as she launches off the roof to swing through the broken window. Landing in a crouch, she's about to spring toward the gunman when Robin tosses the PEPS launcher her way. It's snagged from the air in one hand even as she darts to the side to avoid the gunman getting a fix on her as she points and fires back toward him.

The electric gel splats against his forearm, tazer pins sinking in a split second later, and the electric current zots through him. Kestrel sweeps a kick up to knock the gun up and out of his hands, hopefully before he might tense up and squeeze the trigger again.

Shadowcat has posed:
Batman, Red Robin and Blackbird race across the paved lot and the alley towards the apartment building. Blackbird says into her subvocal mike as they run forward, "Bombs, that can take out 5 floors. Two floors above and two below. So 3rd floor, 8th, 13th, and 18th are the ones to start searching. I have 3rd." She lets go of Batman and Red Robin, letting them grapple up to the two highest floors while she starts lifting off the ground like she were running up invisible steps, reaching the third floor and running through the wall. "Red Hood, nice to see you!" Blackbird says. "You got the 8th floor?"

Meanwhile, Kestrel is through the window and attacking the second goon. The scene could be a viral video if he'd just uttered, "Don't taze me, bro!" before going down as Kestrel sticks her landing well enough to impress even the Russian judge.

"Curse you! Curse you all!" Riddler screams as he lunges for the control panel, only to be pulled back by Robin's quick thinking and greater leg strength. Riddler reverses direction as he loses ground and instead charges at Robin, trying to tackle him and possibly sending both of them flying out of the 8th floor window!

Red Hood has posed:
"Oh. Hello~" Jason offers to Blackbird as she comes running by. Eighth floor? Right! "On my way. Who are you? And where have you been all my life?" he asks, Hood clearly teasing Blackbird - and flirting with her to boot!

Kitty would be so jealous.

If he hadn't already seen the costume on her.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Not much time to react, his grapple gun was dangling off the rooftop, and the batclaw is attached to Nygma. Damian can see what Riddler is thinking in that head of his. He reaches for his necklace, a bat-skull modified to give two specific frequencies. He blows into it as Nygma tackles the fifteen year old. "SKREEEEEEE!"

  The two are falling, when a streak of crimson dives and catches the two. Goliath, Damian's protector and bodyguard since he was ten, catches the two as they fall. "For a genius, you make idiotic decisions, Nygma." He comments, and the group starts to rise in the air. "So sit your ass down if you know what's good for you. If not, you're gonna answer to my friend here."

  "Good god, I can hear your hormones over coms, Hood."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Gunman down, and Robin and Nygma ... Out the window? "Robin! You okay?"

Of course he was. He was already snarking.

"Nevermind. I got the console just give me like ten seconds..." Ten seconds? She was going to dismantle and kill the signal on those bombs in that amount of time? Yep. Kestrel goes to her knees, plucking a pen light from her belt to flick on and shine around the sides, and back of the console until she finds what she's looking for. A quick double-check to make sure there's no booby traps on it and then...

She unplugs it.

"Done. Should be safe now the signal is offline."

Shadowcat has posed:
Riddler is given a dragon-ride to the ground and secured for transport to Arkham, the man howling and gibbering about how Batman cheated somehow, and vowing revenge.

Kestrel has a couple of goons to cuff and add to the catch, and a control panel she can take apart at her leisure if she wants to dig into the workings of it. More importantly, she has another feather in her cap of a successful mission.

The four within the apartment building are able to locate the devices. Poison gas that would have quickly spread the floors around it. Each device is disarmed and secured for the bomb squad, while the apartment building's residents are ushered out in the meantime.

Red Hood didn't get his night off, but he does get treated to a meal at Big Belly Burger by Blackbird, once they are both able to get into some street clothes.

And so ends another night in Gotham.