9664/Knightfall: Talks While Taking out the Trash

Knightfall: Talks While Taking out the Trash
Date of Scene:	20 October 2019
Location:	The Narrows, Burnley
Synopsis:	Jason, Carrie and Damian crash a 'No More Bat' party to talk and punch out their feelings. It sort of works?
Cast of Characters:	Red Hood, Robin (Wayne), Carrie Kelley
Tinyplot:	Knightfall

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Red Hood has posed:
The word was out in Gotham, the Bat was dead. For some, it was a time for grief, for others, like the Narrow's Niners, a time for celebration!

They'd put the word out, free booze and music to celebrate the end of the Bat. It was a power move, a sign the Niners were the new power in the Narrows. Or at least that was the plan.

It was still early, the crowd down below the crumbling tenament were mostly Niners and their hangers on, about twenty in total, music was blaring, fires burned in oil drums and the Niners were dipping into the booze already.

"Well, these guys are idiots," Red Hood concludes watching from the roof of that tenament. "But at least this will be good for stretching our legs," he remarks arms crossed watching their prey down below. "Ah for the days I could just unload with a grenade launcher."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian had been distancing himself from the family lately. Not trying to hide per se, he still answered comms when brought up. Which is why he was here. The fourth Robin watched from the roof as well. "Wow...you said it." He comments back, watching the brazen nature of the Niners in the face of Batman's demise.

  "I bet the booze is the shitty kind too." He adds in, noting the movements of one of the hangers on to a Niner. "I am told that is called 'twerking'."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
The Narrows wern't her area to patrol, really, but that didn't mean Kestrel wouldn't come out either. Especially given it was a gang thing. That seemed to be where her area of skill lay the most; groups of easily confused angry young men. Lightly landing on the rooftop the other two were already on she approaches to peek between them. "S'up?" She greets simply before reaching up to lightly ruffle Damian's hair. Yeah, she knew he hated it, she did too, but this wasn't the time to give an out and out hug.

"Glad to see you around, Robin. You too, Hood."

Red Hood has posed:
"Yeah, that's twerking," Red Hood supplies the grin he wears coming through despite the mask disgusing his voice. "And oh look, that asshole is wearing a Superman shirt, the one getting all the high-fives. Want him?" he asks Robin.

Kestrel's arrival is marked by the turn of Red Hood's mask, "Kes, glad you could make my little therapy session," he says with laughter in his voice. "There's a group of gangers, down there throwing a little party to celebrate Batman's death, figured we could all work out our issues on them. Up for it?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Kestrel's hair ruffling of Damian only garners a sharp tsk of his tongue. He hated it. He attempted to fix his hair while he spoke. "Kestrel..." Being unamused by the fact his hair was touched.

  Jason's question garners a sharp nod, and a fist clashing with his palm. "Hell yes I do." With that, Damian just dropped down, not flying and not stopping his fall, not until he will collide with the Superman-proud banger. Knees pressed on the chest, mixed with Damian's weight is enough to knock over the guy, while a flurry of punches collide with his face. He didn't carry his sword on him, not since Carrie gave himself powers. Thanks Kestrel.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"You have interesting forms of therapy, Hood. Given the circumstances though? Yeah, I'm in," Kestrel agrees with a rather warm grin in spite of the situation. Her mask covered more of her face than most--It had to given the fact that the lenses of her mask were making up for the fact that she wasn't wearing her glasses for obvious reasons.

"I know. Just missed you," Kestrel responds to Damian's TSKing of annoyance with her own wry grin. Before she can say anything more he dives down causing her to lean forward to peek down at the ground with a soft 'huh.' "That took very little convincing... Are they twerking? That's so old school." Her elbow nudges out to bump Hood's side and she adds, "Race you there!" Just as she leaps off the side of the building herself.

Unlike the powered up Damian she uses the grapple gun to shoot out giving her a nice, wide swing as she descends to end up kicking at one of the gang bangers feet first.

Red Hood has posed:
"I'm an interesting guy, plus, upside, it doesn't cost two hundred an hour and we get to punch things."

"Apparently," Jason says of the gang's dance of choice. "And sure, we'll..." he begins laying out the plan when Damian just jumps, or is it flies? He's not sure anymore. Eitherway Super-shirt is goes down hard and the gangers all jump in surprise.

"Damn, forgot he could do that," Jason remarks to Kestrel, before he returns the nudge. "Try to keep up!" he shouts leaping off the roof and firing off a grapple as he does, slowing his descent just enough so that when he drops down on the ganger below him, neither of them end up dead.

"So, how's everyone holding up?" Red Hood asks casually. "Not the fight," he says firing off some rubber bullets into a ganger. "Because these guys are a joke. But you know, everything?"

The gang was beginning to realize what was happening as Kestrel's guy, staggers back and knocksover a fire barrel sending ashes scattering across the ground. Guns are reached for, knives and blunt instruments dug out.

They all start rushing or taking aim at the bats.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The Superman shirted fellow is well and truly beaten, with a quick tug of the shirt, is ripped off the banger. "Fuck Superman, and his merch." He says as he throws the shirt in a nearby barrel fire.

  Damian continues his work on the next gang member. He continues punching and kicking to his hearts content. "All things considered...still pissed off." What else was new? "More than usual." He responded.

  Several batarangs are taken out and thrown at guns aimed at Carrie and Jason. He didn't have much reason to stop someone shooting himself, not when he was all buffed out.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel lands after her kick sends the gang member and the barrel overturned. She barely escapes the flames that spill out, but a quick flip of her short cape ensures that doesn't happen. Instead she lands running, swinging a fist out to straight up punch one of the guys pulling a knife out. Her opposite hand bats it away, and she continues on.

"Tired. I feel like the other shoe is about to drop. And ... are you okay, Robin? I mean I didn't really get to check up on you after I stabbed you with that thing." A quick glance his way spots the batarangs well placed to aid earning a nod.

"Looks like the abilities are holding up."

Red Hood has posed:
Red Hood, "Thanks," Jason says on comms as one of the gunman loses his gun to one of Robin's batarangs. He finishes the unarmed man off with a rubber bullet to the groin, commenting, "Sorry, I would have just killed you a couple years ago, but house rules..."

He moves on, taking on a knife guy, mostly just toying with him and using him as cover as he talks over comms.

"Hear you on the anger," he agrees. "And the tired," he adds before he's blown off topic by a bombshell. "Wait what? You stabbed Robin?" he asks sounding a mix of surprised and amused. "Oh god, /please/ tell me he grabbed your ass."

More men come out of the buildings, maybe it was an attempt at an ambush, but clearly it wasn't going as the Niners planned it.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "The" Punch punch kick. "Crystal did it's job. Good thing, I had estimated a fifty percent chance of it powering me again." He comments, keeping on the heels of the other goons.

  Two shots ring out, and Damian pulls off the two slugs from his face, flicking them right back into the Niner that shot him. "Months ago, I died from an Apokolips crystal exploding at me...Doctor Strange and Kestrel saved me...and I found out I had powers, after leaving to have time for myself. They went away. I was attempting to recreate the experiment that saved my life."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"Wait, what? That means the other fifty would have... Dammit!" Kestrel expresses her annoyance at that fact by punching someone else, followed up by a kick that sends him flying back into another person. She wasn't so much the 'knock them out' as 'pile them up' sort.

"No he didn't grab my anything. Perv," she teases back lightly to Red Hood's remarks about it. "Yeah, what he said. Though I'm wondering when these will wear off if that's the case. Could be dangerous on the timing."

Red Hood has posed:
The knife guy gets frustrated and makes a wild lunge and Red Hood breaks his nose with the butt of his gun, before headbutting him and firing off two rubber bullets into his chest for good measure. A kill shot if not for the rubber bullets, hey, a guy had to keep in practice.

"You say that like you're shocked, Kes," he teases back before he has to take a moment to process the bit about Robin, his death and his powers. "Wow and all I got was this red helmet," he jokes of being in the dead Robin club, but there was a tension behind the levity and a muttered "Good job, Bruce," before a kick to his side gets him back on his game, answering with a rubber bullet to the man's face. His gun levels at the man on the ground for a moment but Red Hood stops short of firing.

"So this time, fifty-fifty, powers or death? Pretty ballsy move Robin, bet Dent's mad he couldn't watch."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "Twenty-five percent chance of killing me outright, twenty-five percent chance of a stab related bleed out." Yep, he had manipulated Carrie into stabbing him. At least he didn't do something worse.

  Damian jumped and grabbed the baton off of a nearby gang member, using it on the back of the knees, forcing the thug to the ground and not moving more. "There you have it." He doesn't apologize, not one bit.

  A bottle of booze is thrown onto a fire, an attempt at distracting one other thug while he ran up behind him and started to wail on him. He had started to free the beast, he remembered so vividly, picking Batman up from Metropolis and carrying his battered body to the Batwing, just another haunting memory for a gander of haunting memories the boy had.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel swings around to grab one guy by the neck using him as a bodyshield when another jumps in toward her. Thankfully most of the weapons, at least of the ones around her, had been knocked out of range into that still flaming pile of debris from the barrel. There were others she tried to keep her eye on though it seemed they were taken care of easily by the other two. As it was? She was breathing a bit hard, partially from anger at realizing what he'd had her do. She didn't realize the odds were quite that with as confident as he'd been.

"You owe me for that, then," she shoots back meaning more for tricking her than for the 'help' she'd given by stabbing him with the crystal shard. She might have more choice words later. For now? For now she was trying no to get winded. Hand to hand wasn't something she did that often as she usually prefered to strike from a distance. It was good to get to use those skills though and the distraction of the conversation was making it easier for her to not overthink herself for once.

"Careful of the eyes, Hood. Even rubber bullets can blind someone," she reminds catching what he'd almost done. "So what contingency did the Boss leave you two, anyway?"

Red Hood has posed:
The Niners numbers were getting thin, with flames, gunshots and flying fists they were too confused to realize it and call for a retreat. It was everyman for themselves and right now, those men weren't doing so good.

Red Hood whistles at those odds, "Like I said, ballsy," he says that remark directed to Robin for putting it on the line like that. "So do I get powers if I get stabbed with one of those?"

Yeah, he was thinking about it, so far they seemed pretty handy.

"Noted," Red Hood says to Kestrel as shoots another one in the face. Hitting his chin and shattering his jaw. "They'd do worse to us if, you know, they could," he kicks the man in the gut sending him sprawling back into a fire barrel knocking it over and ruining the shot a gangster was trying to aim at Kestrel. He leaps the flames and slams a kick into the man's face.

"I got a bunch of caches, some bunker access, and a wish that 'I'd find peace'," Jason says. "But then I also got assigned to the Narrows, so you know, so much for peace," he says kicking the gun away from the downed man. "How about you guys?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian shrugs, going a little extra on this thug. "All...he gave me was a poem."

  "After all that, a poem." He said, continuing to punch and punch and punch and punch this guy. "That's how he summed it all up. No words of advise, no directive, no nothing!" He keeps wailing on this guy.

  "And then the fucking world puts SUPERMAN on a pedestal! Not Batman! Fucking troglodytes, bastards, not even fit to lick my BOOTS!"

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"These guys are getting a bit thin... Should probably wrap it up soon," Kestrel surmizes as she turns to survey the area, ducking down instinctively when she hears a gun go off. Right before lobbing a batarang in that direction to catch whoever it was in an unpleasant place due to her ducked down position. She wasn't picky. It was effective.

Then Damian explains what he got which earns a wince and a sharp look toward Jason as she hears the anger in his voice. "Ohboy."

"It's not like he could give you anything you don't already have, really. You're a better fighter than almost all of us, you have the drive and ambition and skills most of us lack." Even as she says it she just looks as if she's trying to come up with something. "I don't know what the poem said but... Given his mother... Your grandmother was very much a patron of the arts. Poetry might mean something much more to him due to her influence."

Red Hood has posed:
"Yeah, let's finish this," Red Hood says decking one of the gangers and stealing his sub-machinegun he fires some rounds in the air. "Scumbags, we beat you ten minutes ago!" he fires another burst this time aimed at their feet. "Run."

The remaining Niners take that as their cue to leave and abandon their friends. Red Hood had planned on making a speech, something for them to pass on to their friends about how this was his turf now and he'd be seeing them soon, but Robin was the bigger problem.

"Yeah, I'm aware of the irony here, but let the guy go kid, not worth splattering his brains all over the sidewalk," he warns Robin. Carrie's bit about the poem gets a nod. "Yeah, never know what it means, plus, raw deals are pretty much a family tradition."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian kept going, blood was turning his green gloves a sickly brown. He didn't hear the rationale of Carrie and Jason, he just saw red, and once he realized what was going on, he jumped off of the goon. Stamping over to the table with the liquor, flicking off a bottle cap, and taking a big swig of probably rot gut.

  "Fuck it. The JLA turned their back on him, that much was true when they practically erected a giant hard-on for that father killer."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
The sound of machine gun fire earns a little jolt from Kestrel as she watches with a grim stare. Some sounds she was still getting accustomed to, it seemed, and the ear ringing noise of stacatto gunfire was one of them. At least he wasn't shooting directly at them. That was a bonus.

When Robin breaks away from the man he was beating on she moves over to crouch beside him reaching down to test for a pulse. Best to start with that, after all. "I don't think it's like that. Superman was... once was... someone to look up to, and a friend of the Boss', too. He did what had to be done. Knowing him? He wouldn't have enjoyed it, and he likely left a message for the JLA requesting they NOT do something like put up a statue for him. That's kind of how the Boss was," she reminds even if it was perhaps unnecessary. A soft sigh is exhaled, and she looks back over her shoulder between the two.

"... Drinks and Chinese?" She suggests since that seems to be the best way for the evening to wrap up. Damian still had a lot to get out.

Red Hood has posed:
Well to be honest the next burst was going to be aimed at their feet but plans changed. He tosses the gun aside and nods,

"Yeah, that does sound like Batman, selfless to the end, probably left them a poem too," he says darkly. "Or hoped they'd find peace."

"Face it, Batman's a dick, the JLA are dicks, and that giant erection to Superman is super-dickish, and I'm still game to blow it up, but save some of this until Red Robin's done his detective thing, if there's people still alive responsible for this, it's going to be us that make them pay."

Red Hood nods about the drinks and Chinese. "Go ahead," he says reaching into his jacket for a can of red spray paint. "I'll catch up after a little decorating."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin takes out his own spray can, shaking the rattle inside. "I agree."

  He works fast, moving at heightened speed and spraying his R symbol on a nearby wall in golden paint. "I'm ordering Peking duck. Extra bao." He puts the small can back in his utility belt, and joins Carrie.

  "Then I'm going to get drunk and adopt a puppy." If he could get drunk, which he cannot given his current powered state.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Kestrel merely sighs when the two take out the spray cans shaking her head at them. She can't help but grin just a bit at the similarities between them. Though not brothers by blood they were in many ways brothers after all.

While they're defacing the property with bat symbols and warnings most likely she sets a beacon down next to the injured man that Damian had let loose on. It was to alert the GCPD and medical services to the location rather than letting them simply lay about until someone found them.

"You get no argument over bao from me. I could go for some Ma Po Tofu myself." Though she might also sneak a peice of that duck. And just this once she wouldn't argue over Damian drinking.

Red Hood has posed:
Catching that sigh, Red Hood grins and opens his graffiti spree by spraying 'Kestrel' on one of the walls, before moving on to do his red bat symbol.

He finishes it off by spaying a message on the ground in five foot letters: 'WE'RE STILL HERE'

Satisifed, he tosses the can, and says the grin coming through in his voice: "You're on your own with the puppy, but with you on the drinking," he confirms with a nod. "As for food, bao, and like half of your tofu," a nod to Carrie, "And half of your duck," a nod to Damian as he grabs his grapple gun.

"Anyhow, let's get out of here, last one there pays."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "One whole duck, extra bao, only if you two eat the congealed chicken feet." Yes, he went there. Cause to him, they are delicious, but he was raised by Ra's and Talia, they had many traditional Asian foods.

  "If we talk business we can bill it to the corporate account." Yeah, that's right. Someone has access to the Wayne Industries corporate card.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
The feet? Kestrel makes a bit of a face but tries not to show it. "... Fine," she agrees while already trying to decide if her stomach could handle that or not. Guess she'd find out! One last glance over her shoulder is given, a double-take at her name on the wall along with upward rolled eyes, and she gestures in the direction she intends. "Let's go then. I'm starving after all of this."

Red Hood has posed:
"Done," Red Hood says without hesitation. Benefit of league training. You learn to eat weird shit. "Maybe we should get some fried fish with the eyes still in," his mask is expressionless but his body language and tone of voice tells the story of his smirk.

"And sure thing, Robin, I am sure we can talk a little business."

With that he fires his grapple gun and begins to swing away.