7720/Punishment in Arkham

Punishment in Arkham
Date of Scene:	03 June 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	The Punisher tries to assassinate Harley in Arkham. Interference from Nightwing causes the operation to go sideways, fast... with Harley escaping in the chaos.
Cast of Characters:	Punisher, Harley Quinn, Nightwing

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Punisher has posed:
It's a slow process, preparing for war with the Foot clan in New York. Plenty of equipment has been stashed in his various safehouses as he works on preparing for it, but The Punisher is still monitoring the planet for potential targets... and A few days ago, one popped up on the radar with the Truth Seekers episode showing Harley Quinns status in Arkham.

It was a perfect opportunity for an assassination attempt. A little planning around her known routine, and it'd be easy to set a trap.

A few days ago, a new janitor was hired, and last night 'Mark Hormak' finally got a window to plant a small C4 charge at Harley Quinn's known laundry section.

With a covert camera hack, Microchip was monitoring the room while 'Mark' was just outside with the detonator trigger, ready to tie into the wiring.

With his kit inside of the Janitor Cart, he could easily be prepared in case something went wrong.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Pushing the laundry cart, something that she gets to do now thanks to the negative responses that rushed to the twitter and facebook feeds of Arkham after her 'needing clean underwear' comment on the podcast. It's been relatively great, she's even started getting some fan mail that she's placed up in her cell.

Getting into the laundry room with all the dirty clothes, she waits at the door until it's buzzed open for her from the security who are away from the room and definitely watching her through cameras. Whistling a bit, grinning, she opens up a letter she's kept so she can dilly dally outside of her cell. Reading through the quick letter she sighs with a smile, "At least this one ain't usin' such foul language as the last one. Fellas these days, no class, not like my Mistah J." And she tears up the letter, and crumples pieces of it to put inside of the pockets of various clothing she's got, letting out a soft cacklish giggle.

Over to the washer and she opens it up getting ready to toss clothes into the machine...

Nightwing has posed:
    Elsewhere within the depths of Arkham, another figure stalks long forgotten corridors and hidden passageways that wind in the spaces between the walls of the antiquated madhouse. Tunnels and passageways only known to those who have had the dubious honor of paying far, far too many visits to Arkham, either in the pursuit of justice, or in the pursuit of escape.

    Nightwing had been keeping an eye on Harley, since the interview. He'd like to say that it was simply because her flippant attitude towards murder and mayhem was likely to cause her to be the target of mourning friends, family and lovers of her victims. Or targeted by the more... zealous and bloodthirsty types like Frank Castle himself. That's the justification that Nightwinf would use, at least. But in reality, it's because of the way that Harley had played Spoiler into a social blunder. He had been planning to pay her a visit ever since.

    However, in keeping an eye out on the actual psychopathic Juggalette, part of Grayson's job is monitoring the employees at Arkham. See if anyone new comes in or out. See if routines and schedules shift. Look in to new hires. Make sure they check out. And "Mark Hormak"? Mark definitely doesn't check out.

    He had been monitoring the camera feeds, following "Mark" through his movements, making the rounds. He had seen something being planted, and while he might not know what it is exactly, he IS a detective, both in his daytime life and his vigilante life. So he can have a few good guesses.

    No sooner than Harley open the machine than a large vent in the wall opens up. The sound of air decompressing heralds what is surely a familiar sound to Harley. The sound of a bat grapple. The line, in this case, is meant to wrap around her ankle, dragging her off of her feet and in to the vent, where she, along with her shadowy would be savior, will be shunted down ventilation shaft that drops into an open rec room two stories down.

Punisher has posed:
As soon as Harley was within the guaranteed kill zone, the button inside the Cart was pressed.

*KRA-BOOM*

A small-but-well-placed C4 charge detonates inside the laundry room washer, sending scrapnel into the mostly empty room, the edges of the blast licking over Harley enough to do some serious injuries... though not enough to kill her with Nightwing getting in the way.

"Frank, you didn't get her." There's a pause, "What?" Punisher asks over the transceiver, "I can confirm it. I just dialed back. She was grappled away just before the blast. Someone timed it to make it look like she was atomized. The charge didn't kill her. She got pulled into a vent. I'm guessing Batman's monitoring her from the look of the line."

No time to curse his luck. The Bats were a constant annoyance when he was working Gotham, and this trip was no different...

Of course, this will be his first direct confrontation with the Bat Family.

"Keep monitoring the building. I want to know the second they dump into a room. I'm going to have to go overt."

Pushing the Cart into the room, The Punisher takes a tear gas grenade and tosses it right into the vent where Nightwing pulled Harley, before he starts to head out.

"find them."

Harley Quinn has posed:
And Harley's not a detective -at all-. In her daily life, or any life. Except maybe the investigations of other people's minds. That's helped a ton with coming up with various ways of torturing people for information or for fun, creating horrible nightmarish events that people sometimes only narrowly escape. And also, of course, during the rare times when she's been an actual hero and convinced those around her that she has no more evil intent. For now, though, she's stuffing paper into people's pants to make gobs of lint by the time they go through the dryer, everyone hates lint.

That's when vent opens, cable wraps around her ankle, and she's soon being moved at quick speed into the ventilation shaft screaming. With the explosion going off at the exact same time, her orange jumpsuit gets burned, losing sleeves, some of her hair is sizzling, she's got burns up and down her arms, along some of her legs where also clothig has been burned away. Shrapnel sticking into some of her burned skin, and a big-ish piece kind of stuck in her thigh. It looks like she took a trip to savage land by the time she lands in the rec room with a groaning oomph and grimacing facial expression.

Then she gets a bit angry, "You! Ooooooh ow ow ow." Stretching out her arm to accusatorily point her finger at Nightwing causes her pretty immense pain, "It hurts holy burning arm Nightwing... when did ya start usin' bombs? That's my schtick... well, will ya look at that ... ?" She grins big and then holds her arm up to her wide eyes as she watches some burn blisters start to bubble up. Then there's a dunkdunkdunkdunk as a gas grenade comes following down through the ventilation landing and scchzzzzzzishing out into the room.

"Hey, am I 'spose ta pull these out or keep'em in? I never can remember..." Her fingers are grabbing at bits of shrapnel in her shoulder and yanking, as she grimaces expressively, "Mint chip ice cream!" Like she's swearing, before she tries to find another piece with her fingers to yank that one out as well. Unconcerned about gases, unless they explode, Harley's trying to recover by yanking shrapnel out of her injuries in a less than sanitary fashion.

Nightwing has posed:
    "You're welcome," The modulated voice of Nightwing spills from his lips, sounding dark and with just a hint of metallic flange to it. He's not even going to explain that the bomb wasn't him. Why on earth would he bother saving her if he was going to bomb her?

    Instead, he takes a few seconds to lay there on the floor, where he had landed heavily on his back. It was not a fun ride. But then he hears a tink-tink-tink of the grenade coming down the metallic shaft. He rolls to the side, letting it clack to the ground, bounce, and start spinning before the noxious gases start to pour out of the tip.

    Well...

    Nightwing kips up to his feet, and pulls a breathmask from one of his gauntlet compartments. It fits just over his mouth and nose. His eyes are protected enough from the mask that's glued to his face. It'll filter out the gases, but he's not planning on sticking around to test it more than necessary. So, he reaches out, yanking Harley by the wrist, completely unconcerned with her injuries, as he makes for the door.

    "We have to go. He's coming," He says, tersely. He doesn't know who "He" is, though. Otherwise, he might be calling for backup.

Punisher has posed:
It was time to get the innocents to clear out, which meant switching out for his traditional garb.

The hat, face mask and overalls are dropped unceremoniously to the floor, and the trenchcoat is pulled out of the Cart. The white skull vest is easily seen on the monitors as Punisher reaches into the cache in the Cart and starts to field assemble the M4A1 rifle and M1216 shotgun, placing both in their respective slings on the gear web as he snaps that on.

Time to go to work.

"I've got them in the rec room, Frank." Microchip remarks just seconds before The Punisher finishes loading magazines, gear, and shells into the gear web. "That's two floors down. Talk me through it, Micro."

The Punisher is on the warpath through Arkham, and he's not being stealthy about it at all.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Getting pulled up from where she landed in the rec room, completely unconcerned about noxious gases. She even sniffs a few times and sticks out her tongue to kind of 'taste' it - "Mmmm. There's a bit of tang ta this one. I bet it'd go great on-" She's cut off as soon as she has to put weight on her leg, "Oooooghrddbbbfckzzzsh!" Grimacing so wide with teeth showing she pulls back on Nightwing's wrist, "Slow down! I got..." She leans over to look at her leg, and she blinks a few times, "Oh, don't look. It ain't nothin'. I'm jus' tryin' ta save ya from seein' one of the worst things ya ever gonna see. A giant hunk of metal in my beautiful thigh."

Limping now, she moves slowly, even as blood is starting to trickle down her leg and onto the ground leaving foot squashed red droplets behind her movements. "If this is some kind of in-family fightin' yer having over me, I'm flattered, but I'm already taken. Not that I could say no if I were handcuffed or somethin'. We should stop off at the GCPD ta pick some up. Also, any way we could stop by the security checkpoint... they got my clothes an' my mallet there. And my makeup kit, hair dyes, gas monkeys, zebra camouflage, some peanut butter cookies with arsenic, cyanide laced lollipops..." And she keeps rattling on if she's not stopped.

Nightwing has posed:
    Of course, it's not hard for Frank to clear out the "innocents", as an explosion has certainly set off alarms that now sound out a klaxon call across the entire complex. Staff are running out in masses. Has anyone even bothered to worry about the inmates?

    It's dubious.

    With Harley's whining, Nightwing almost wants to take the time to shut her up. Almost. Instead, he just speaks over his shoulder, "If it's too bad, and you can't walk, let me know. I'll carry you."

    As for the other commentary, the svelte, tenebrous crimefighter remains mum. He's not going to entertain her with talk about family in fighting, or handcuffs, or anything else. His grip on her wrist just tightens, and he starts pulling forward,d own the hall away from the rec room and towards the nearest stairwell.

    "We're going to go to the basement," is all he says. "I can defend you better from there."

Punisher has posed:
It keeps them out of his way as they run, at least.

"They're moving for the stairwell Frank. You should have a clear line of sight if you dash it." Microchip continues to provide intelligence for his field partner.

The shotgun is pulled out of the gear web, and the magazine is switched to one of his non-lethal loads. Nightwing would likely jump in the way of any shots after all. Immediately after, his left hand pulls a flash grenade from the gear web as he's running.

By the time Nightwing and Harley are nearing the stairwell, Microchip is counting down, "3.... 2....1... drop it, Frank."

*clank, clank... roooolll....*

*BOOM* The flash grenade goes off just as the two are about to turn the corner to head for the stairwell.

The Punisher isn't far behind as he starts to walk down the stairs, M1216 shouldered and aimed as he looks for a clean shot.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Reaching up, Harley Quinn puts the back of her free hand to her forehead and she swoons a bit, "Oh, the pain, it's killin' me. It's the worst thing I've ever felt. Please, Mister N.W. ya gotta carry me wit' yer big strong arms." She is limping along and seems to go back and forth between unable to hide the pain in her voice, hissing out with it, and not at all concerned. Pain is just a state of mind, and Harley's mind is regularly in flux. "So, ya got a girlfriend or somethin'? I bet crime fightin' puts a damper on the kind of ladies, or fellas, ya can meet. If ya didn't hear, I'm willin' ta work with ya, help you out in the relationship advice-"

That's when the flashbang goes off, and Harley is screaming out, "My eyes, aaaaaagh! Run awaaaaay!" She's grabbing ahold of Nightwing's arm now, grabbing and pulling, in erratic motions and movements, and moving forward running, as best she can, straight down the stairwell, unless Nightwing holds on to her as she will otherwise go rolling down the stairs, blind as a bat... hah, hah, hah.

Nightwing has posed:
    "I've got plenty of options in that department, thanks," Nightwing says, just as he reaches out with his free hand to yank open the door to the stairwell.

    To have a flashbang go off in his face.

    The gear does its thing. The lenses of his mask react to the flash, and the sound dampeners in his ears reduce the bang. He still sees spots and hears a ringing in his ears, but it's not completely debilitating.

    But the gear doesn't cover his sheer surprise.

    He jumps with a start, and this, of course, gives Frank the clearance he needs to put a round of rubber buckshot clear in his center mass. The rubber bounces off of the plated armor chest, but the sting of it, and force sends him stumbling back into a flailing Harley. Harley tries to flee down the stairs, and Dick follows suit, trying to regain control of her, but she's a rabid polecat, at the moment, so that's not going to work.

    Retaliation, then. Grayson lifts an arm, and flings a few round pellets up the stairs at the as-of-yet-unseen assailant. Those, too, explode in a bright flash and loud pop!

Punisher has posed:
He's studied the Bat Family himself. He knows their moves. Their main tactics. He's had time to prepare a mask of his own against their flash and smoke equipment. His own mask does the same work as Nightwings, lessening the effect of the flash.

Like Nightwing, The Punisher has had training to withstand various torturous effects... and has decades of war experience having trained his reflexes to put his arm over his eyes to shield from the pellets.

"NIGHTWING, GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THE WAY BEFORE I PUT YOU IN THE HOSPITAL, SON!" Punisher shouts down to him as he waits a few seconds for the effect to clear. "I'M NOT GONNA HESITATE ABOUT IT!"

*BOOM* *BOOM* Rubber shell after Rubber shell fills the hallway and stairwell as Nightwing and Harley fall back as The Punisher tries to wing them before they turn the corner, the shotgun blasts nearly deafening at this range.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Without Nightwing stopping her, and somewhat getting in her way, she just pushes past him, running. She hits the first step with her good leg, and is managing, then she hits the second step and slips, falling. "Wha?!" Just a moment of surprise as her leg doesn't hold her weight, and slips from the blood on the bottom of it and she starts going down.

"Oohuh,nnhgh,gahbrghfzzt shitzupeanbutbrittle... oomph!" As she hits into the wall at the bottom of this section of stairs. Then she's groaning and reaching out for the railing even as booming is coming down behind her and a Nightwing is as well, she's blinking and rubbing her eyes, and shouting, "Nightwing! Is that fella still following us!" It's hard for her to hear th shotgun, with all the ringing, but getting hit by the pellets in what was her 'good' arm in this context, spins her around and she actually raises her hands above her head and runs, flailing them about.

"Don't kill me! I never done nothin' to you, maybe 'cept run over your leg. If you are who I think you are! And then broke your nose with my car door! Wasn't my fault, was robbin' a toy store!" And she doesn't have far to go for her limping, pain ridden jaunt to the next floor of stairs. Her foot comes out to test them and then she chuckles a bit, "Wheee!" As she hurls herself down the next flight of stairs...

Nightwing has posed:
    Punisher.

    Effing. Punisher.

    That figures.

    "NOT GONNA HAPPEN!" is his retort back up the stairwell. The stairwell. That's... Ope there goes gravity. And Harley goes with it. This isn't going to end well for anyone in this stairwell. He has to get Harley out of here. Otherwise Punisher is going to just win by a war of attrition. With the attrition mostly just being Harley wrecking herself.

    There's a sharp stinging in his left side. Not a broken rib, but probably dislocated. He's going to have to work through the pain. Reaching onto his back, Dick grabs one of the Escrima sticks that he keeps mounted there, and then launches himself up. One foot touches base on the stair's railing, and he springs from it, to the opposite wall, where he runs around the corner and performs a quick, aerial cartwheel to hand in front of Harley.

    "Grab on. We're diving."

Punisher has posed:
"Fuck, I hate these Bat Family kids." Punisher grumbles to himself low enough to only Microchip can hear him over the transceiver.

He doesn't stop. His left hand twists the magazine barrel to bring four more rubber buckshot shells to bear as he keeps the shotgun shouldered, watching his angles and corners as he advances.

If he sees a shot, he'll take it, no hesitation.

Harley Quinn has posed:
Falling down some more stairs causes Harley Quinn some cackling oomph, thuds and thunks as this flight of stairs seems to cause her a lot more joy than the last. Looking up to Nightwing as he comes by, she's twisting a finger into her ear and shouting out, "What?!" And then with body language she realizes he's looking to jump.

So, jump they shall. Harley wobble-stands and then grabs ahold of Nightwing, to jump with him, "Best part of fallin'? The sudden stop!" Not that she can stop him from doing his bat thing really other than she's kind of wrapped up around him making it not easy.

"Haaaaaahahahahaha ahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaa!" Laughs Harley as she topples over the railing with Nightwing down the center of the stairwell. The laughing kind of echoing up through the chamber as she jumps.

Nightwing has posed:
    Well, at least she got the idea of it, if not understanding the nuance of the execution. It's... something, right? Dick can do what little he can to direct the descent, twisting them so that his back is presented to Frank's shotgun blasts. There's a good two or three seconds of wide open space for Frank to just lay into the young vigilante, before the soft hiss of another grapple line heralds the steel cable latching on to a railing.

    Sadly, for Harley, the stop is far less sudden, as the tension on the line slows their descent just as they drop to the bottom of the stairs. Dick pretty much takes to a knee as soon as feet touch the floor. His lungs are burning. His back is numb, but not in a way that makes anything any better. Looking up at Harley, he nods his head towards the door. "Hide."

Punisher has posed:
"This is gettin' old." The Punisher grouses, twisting the magazine for another four shells as he aims down the stairwell center and fires more rubber buckshot into the two. He keeps a mental calculation of how far they'd need to be dropped to not die, but at least seriously disable them, to give him enough time to get down the stairwell on his own grappling line.

Then, he pulls his Ka-Bar from his gear web, and with a forceful cut, tries to snap Nightwings line in half at the right moment.

Nightwing will no doubt shield Harley from the landing impact, which is exactly what The Punisher wants.

Harley Quinn has posed:
The trip is lots and lots of fun. Harley isn't afraid as they go down. Her eyes getting wider and wider as they free fall and then... the cable starts to slow them down as they approach the ground... and her disappointment is clear on her face. Not that anyone can see the expression, until they start free falling again!

And then she's looking upwards as she lands on Nightwing, him taking the brunt of the impact and her rolling off of him in a semi-acrobatic roll. Standing up she favors one of her legs but is seeming a lot better than she was a while ago. In fact, the areas of her shoulder where she ripped out those bits of shrapnel see well on the mend, her arms and leg where burn marks were pretty bad, aren't as bad as they were. Both Nightwing and Punisher are good observers of facts, another person might not of noticed much... but she's slowly getting better. And it seems like she's got some of her hearing back, and her vision isn't so blurred.

"I know -just- where we are!" And Harley opens the stairwell door, and shuts it behind her not even offering to help Nightwing up. There's a sliding grating sound, as a more prison door slides in front of that, and then a crunching sound as she breaks the locking mechanism for the door. Pressing on an intercom button she mentions, "This here is the walk of shame hallway, only way out now is the long ways around. Thanks fer the assist lover boy, toodles!" And she does a finger wave through that little cutout window to let you see if people are on the other side, though she's still limping, she's moving at a quicker pace than she was previously.

Through the door a muffled shout of, "George, ya better open this door else I swear ta whatever green monster in the sky ya believe in. I will choke ya ta death on Cinnamon!" Though, without advanced hearing it may not be that audible ... as Harley makes her limping escape.

Nightwing has posed:
    Frank is right. Of course he is. Even if Nightwing is less than enthused about saving the life of Harley right now, he's going to do everything he can do to make sure she is, in fact, saved. Nevermind that Frank Castle might as well be Jason Vorhees chasing them down right now. He really, really should have called in for backup. This is definitely not what he had planned when he had pegged "Mark" as a possible assassin.

    Landing solidly on his back, Nightwing thuds heavily, his head smacking on the concrete. The mask doesn't protect that. His vision blurs, and the room spins, as Harley rolls off of him.

    "Harley..." He murmurs as he rolls onto his side and tries to get up. But the floor seems to be falling out from under him. He does manage, though, after a few seconds of his feet sliding on the floor, and pushing himself up with his hands. He stumbles to the door, and beats on it with a fist, the steel of his knuckles ringing loud and clear in the echo chamber of the stairs.

    And Frank is coming, too.

    Nightwing turns around, leaning his back against the door and lifting his fists. This should be fun, right? Right.

Punisher has posed:
The shotgun is slung as the last of his rubber buckshot is spent (the last magazine tube is 12 gauge lethal buckshot. He was hoping to put that into Harley by now) and the grapnel gun from his gear web is pulled. In the same fashion as Nightwing, a line is fired up into the ceiling above, before The Punisher descends down the stairwell next.

By the time Harley is out of sight, The Punisher lands with far more grace, and is immediately pulling out his Glock 17 and firing rubber rounds at Nightwing. He's gonna keep firing into Nightwing until his magazine is empty, or Nightwing charges him.

The Punisher isn't screwing around on this one.

Nightwing has posed:
    Dick is running on pure adrenaline more than anything right now. He sees the looming shadow of Frank Castle descending upon him, and he prepares. Grits his teeth, and puts on a smile. The show must go on, and Dick Grayson is nothing, if not a performer.

    Punisher lands with a volley of gunfire, but Grayson is doing that thing that will shut down Frank's firing range. He turns and takes two steps up the wall before springing off into a backflip. The intent isn't just to look cool and acrobatic. No, he's lashing out with a downward arcing overhead kick that should hammer the steel tip of his boot down on top of Frank's head. In theory, at least. As long as he can keep up the pressure, Castle won't be able to effectively use his guns. Dick is...

    Well, he's not certain he can take Frank hand to hand. But he can definitely make a go of it. He does have a bit less predictability in that aspect than he does in his moral compass, thanks to his acrobatic and almost dancelike style.

Punisher has posed:
His magazine is almost empty by the time Nightwing is starting up his dancing fighting style. As the boot tries to hit his head, The Punisher dodges out of the way back and to the left, his pistol used and dropped to the ground as he pulls out his Ka-Bar and brings it up into a defensive position, backing away just slightly.

"I knew you Bat Kids were stubborn as the Bat is, but now you're helping her to escape?!" The Punisher squints in frustration at Nightwing through his mask, "I'm sure Daddy will be proud after I put a few holes in your kneecaps."

With surreal reflexes, the Punisher lunges for Nightwing, his left arm trying to hook over and around Nightwings arm so he can have a clean line to peirce into Nightwings shoulder with the Ka-Bar.

It's almost like fighting Batman himself, with how fast he is.

Nightwing has posed:
    "I'll catch her," Nightwing says, the exhaustion and pain being hidden underneath layers of electronic masking in his voice modulator. "Just as soon as I'm done with you. You shouldn't have come to Gotham, Castle."

    Nightwing knows better than to treat the Punisher as a joke. He's read the case files. He's seen the aftermath of a Punisher sighting. He studied Castle for a research project, mostly due to the realization that Castle is exactly how Bruce might have turned out if any one thing had been different in his life. He might not have met the man, but he knows him well enough to know he's as deadly as any madman or villain that Gotham has seen. Even Deathstroke, and they call that guy the God damned Terminator.

    Dick has one advantage. He isn't as strong as Frank. He can't bring that much power. Dick has more training in a martial arts fight, and more technical skill, but Frank has him beat hands down in the experience department. So, Dick's only advantage is that he's faster. He has to capitalize on that.

    Which is what he attempts now. As Frank comes in with the left arm, Dick ducks underneath of it. Catching the hand with the knife, Grayson leaps up and around, wrapping his hands around the wrist, and his legs around the arm at the shoulder, in an attempt to bring Castle to the ground in an armbar that should wrench the knife out of his hand.

Punisher has posed:
It's Nightwings first mistake, wrapping himself around the Punishers arm. He's grappled with people before... but basically putting all his mass onto him like that?

That's just asking for it.

With nothing more than a grunt at first, The Punisher lifts... then with a loud roar of rage, he twists around with Nightwing still on his arm and begins to /SLAM/ him into the side of the stairwell, then keeps up the momentum as he brings him down onto the ground.

Over and over again, he slams down, sliding him against a wall, then again into the floor... wall... floor. The Ka-Bar is kept in a terminal grip as Nightwing tries to wrench it free... and he capitalizes very effectively.

"CAN'T CATCH HER IF YOU'RE ON THE GROUND, BOY!"

Nightwing has posed:
    Oh S@&+

    Nightwing realizes his mistake as soon as Frank doesn't go down with the momentum of his body weight trying to take him to the floor. His eyes widen, blissfully hidden behind the unblinking white lenses of his domino mask, and then he's... taken on a ride. His breath expels itself forcefully from his lungs on the first slam against the stairwell. He grits his teeth as he feels that dislocated rib stabbing muscle and grinding against other bones.

    Then he hits the floor. Still, he holds on, as he wheezes to catch his breath. Against the wall. The floor. At this point, Dick is just riding it out. Letting the adrenaline carry him and keep him going, with the pain slicing through the blackout and bringing him back from that brink, each time he collides with another surface. It's only his armor that's keeping him from being turned to paste.

    But he's not going to just lay there and take it, either. No. His right foot starts pumping, sending kick after kick after kick at Frank's face, using the steel capped heel of his boot.

    "JUST"

    "GIVE"

    "UP!!!"

Punisher has posed:
"FUCKING KIDS!" The Punisher roars as he's suddenly being kicked in the face by steel boots. There's already bleeding from the cheeks and a bit from his nose from the hits, despite his mask, but he knows that mask isn't gonna hold up against that much force. His other hand comes up to grip the leg kicking him... and The Punisher roars with the effort as he suddenly starts to spin around like a top.

If Nightwing is so intent on taking the knife... he can have it.

Once he's got more than enough momentum for it, he let's go of the knife and uses both arms to toss Nightwing into a nearby wall.

"GIVE UP THIS, ASSHOLE!"

Nightwing has posed:
    SLAM!

    Nightwing is flung across the cramped area of the bottom of the stairwell, colliding into the wall with enough force to crack it and send some chips of broken concrete crackling on the floor. He slumps forward onto his hands and knees on the floor, looking down. But he's got that knife in hand. That's a win.

    Grayson forces a lopsided, sneering smirk, as he lifts his head and raises up onto one knee. Knife in hand, he catches it between the scalloped fins on his opposite forearm, and uses them to snap the blade in half.

    "She's... She's gone by now, man. We can keep doing this for the next couple of hours... or you can go. Cops and other Bats are going to be here any second. All I gotta do... is wait you out."

    Panting heavily, bruised and broken (because he's certain that he's got several fractures in his ribs, now), Grayson pushes himself up to his feet, and puts his fists up.

    "What's it going to be, Castle?"

    Because if Punisher doesn't retreat now, Dick will be forced to use the taser in his gauntlets. Something he typically reserves for the likes of Killer Croc or Blockbuster.

Punisher has posed:
There's no reply. No countermove. The Punisher simply studies Nightwing for a moment... then his right hand reaches for the grapple gun.

"This isn't over, boy."

The trigger is pulled, and The Punisher vanishes back up the stairwell.

"Micro, I'm going to need escape route B checked. The kid took too much time to deal with." A moment passes before Microchip replies, "You're all clear Frank."

Another day, another learning experience.... and an unintentional failure.