January 15, 2018:
The demon infested Stark bots march down the street to cause more trouble for SHIELD and assorted heroes and then because it's unexpected the Joker sends a present in the form of two buses and an ice cream truck full of goodies. No one throws even a single piece of candy.
West Side
Characters
![class="image1"](http://cmbeta.wdfiles.com/local--resized-images//class="image1"/medium.jpg)
NPCs: Agent Lord, Lots of Tony's Suits, Joker Gang
Mentions: Tony Stark, The Joker
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
Stark Tower.
That warm light for all mankind. Snuffed out by dark magic and darker weather. Now? The headquarters for SHIELD in the immediate area. Agents hold the lobby in the bitter cold. Poor Agent Lord, fluffed up in a jacket and hunched over the portable com and sensor arrays that have been set up in the darkened halls of the building holds a mug of hot cocoa.
Most everything in Stark Tower was knocked out by the power burst that traveled up the tower. Going though it and catalagueing it has been the project of various Stark employees and SHILED guards, along with Avengers and Titans running assistance when needed. And its been needed. All round the city attacks by the corrupted Stark Drones have been reported. One or two times a suit has appeared. Always looking for new technology to corrupt.
Stark Tower itself though has been fairly quiet. No problems. No movement. None of the drones or suits seem to want to go home…
…unit…
Agent Lord peers at the screen of warning sensors set up as one of them goes dead. Not goes off. Just goes dead.
Then a new one. Then a third.
Batman would find his own drone network similarly affected. As if something were swatting them from the sky. Or consuming them.
Its hard to say.
And down the street, blocks away from the tower but still visible there is suddenly movement where there wasn't before. Metalic figures crawling on walls, shuffling down the street. Drones that were once Stark's, now corrupted by some demonic mind.
The ones visible are obviously damaged. Repaired with whatever there was at hand. All of them sport damage from weapons, beams, and fists.
But so far they simply march forwards. Silently, dozens of them.
*
Agent Lord, eyes slowly widening starts to wave one hand excidedly as he notes the problem. "Um! I think we may be under attack!"
*
The combat Batmobile had been spotted in New York the last few days, with Batman going around the city dealing with Starks toys, potential riots and criminals, and the occasional civilian well and truly screwed by the weather… being given a lift in the passenger side of the Batmobile. The Batmobile and Batman himself have been obviously weather-proof, with Batman wearing a full face helmet instead of his usual cowl for this weather. All in all, Batman was the most visible and senior Justice League member on the ground, and was very visibly doing his part to offset the seriousness of the situation.
Then, the alarm tone goes off in his Batmobile as his drone start to go dead, "Alfred, set the drone network to autopilot to rooftops. Engage automatic defenses and shut them down. That ridiculous code adapted, it looks like." Alfred replies over the comm, "At once, Sir. Shall I inform the SHIELD agents our backup network is going down?" Batman grimaces under his helmet, "Yes. Tell them I'm on my wa-"
Then Agent Lords warning is heard over his speakers, and Batman turns the Batmobile around, his snow-tires making the 180 turn almost smooth as he scrambles for Stark Tower.
"I hate magic." Batman muses to himself, in a growl.
Spoiler was already here. She'd been in New York for most of the black out. There was work with Murdock and Nelson, and volunteering at a soup kitchen to try to help the everyman through the cold, but more importantly there was Avenger work here at Stark Tower. Spoiler had been going for as long as she could manage at a stretch, crawling through the electrical ducts to help Stark and SHIELD get the power up and going, running patrols about the area on her skycycle. She was thankful it was still working. YAY for futuristic tech care of Nathaniel Richards!
Out on her bike, in her warmest weather suit, with a black and purple scarf to help keep her exposed face warm (okay, balck purple and white… with Jack Skeleton's face on it. She picked it up from Target last month… and paid cash. There are thousands of these things. Classic Spoiler.), Spoiler queues up tactical on her HUD at Lord reports in.
"Acknowledged, Lord," she says. About to say more there's a ping from her Family sensors. Beneath the scarf, Spoiler's lips pull up in a light smile. She can't help it. Every time that ping shows up unexpectedly, her heart gives a tiny hop before the weight of seriousness settles.
"Batman enroute. I'm moving to intercept," she says triggering her coms to relay that to both parties.
*
Amongst the throng of SHIELD agents, is one who doesn't quite belong. Owen is back in with the many other agents, this time dressed in a different agency's cold weather gear. He has all of his normal gear not that far away. Sure, he could be doing other things, but well his place has no power, heat or water anyway so … why not commit a federal crime of impersonating a federal agent or something.
As soon as Agent Lord announces that they /might/ be under attack, he poofs. Last time he almost got sucker punched by two of these demon infested mech heads, but he did at least get a good idea of what might be effective.
So Owen disappears and Boomerang reappears, dressed in black with black domino mask in place with facial blurring tech. He stands in the middle of the street that the horde approaches on.
"Didn't you hear? The demon bear infested robot parade was cancelled. Because that is literally the worst parade idea. Ever."
*
Sensation sits in her car, a blue camaro, keeping warm and watching the tower bored to death. Her helmet sits next to her and her windows are heavily tinted. Not to mention she's wearing a green and blue windbreaker over her suit…for now. The car idles silently, parked in an alley down the block towards Madison Square gardens.
*doo doo dodo doo dodo doo* A jingle sounds from the phone next to the helmet. She eyes it with distaste and picks it up. No greeting is given and for a moment there is only the sound of breathing.
"No warm greetings?" Comes a garbled voice over the phone. It is managing to still sound mocking. "I'm hurt, Alice."
"I'm here, what do you want? Nothing is happening," She says in obviously irritated tone.
A chuckle comes across the line and she glares out her window just as the Batmobile does a 180 on the street before the alley.
"God damnit!" She curses and hits the steering wheel, looking super upset now. The voice on the other end starts laughing, "Have fun!" And then hangs up.
*
Sleep? Sleep is for other people. The last couple days have had a certain Sokovian engineering student running with barely a few catnaps, just long enough to let the next round of tea brew before she's back to work. Most of it is going through Stark Tower's darkened interior, categorizing what Rusalka knows and what they can determine is missing. The rest of the time she's been visiting his lab, searching, and managed to find enough components to rebuild the purged and shattered arm of her suit.
Thank God that Tony Stark believes in spares and all-new improved versions.
The restored HOPPS is back in action, the black-and-white totally-not-a-bunnygirl-ironman-suit-yes-it-is powered up and online - and with a particular scarf covered in folk-magic embroidery. Sokovian tradition, but Sally's started admitting that maybe those traditions have good reason.
When the drones start cutting out, when communications in some areas find themselves disrupted, it's a /bad/ sign. The helmet snaps down and she's out the door, mini-drones deploying from the back of the suit. Extra eyes in the sky, and with a little luck able to pick up slack as the communications network starts to go down.
"Agent Stojespal online. I am bringing up video…I have - parade? Pfhah." Tracking the crowd, she zooms in, looking for locations. The suit flits off, repulsor jumps carrying it wide across the streets and occasionally skidding to a stop. "I have it. Ah…moving quickly! The column is crossing Sixth Avenue…Fifth Avenue…one hundred yards away…it's fifty feet…"
*
Thanks to Sharon Carter and Rusalka Stojespal, Jessica finally got what she wanted. Her own chance to take a look at what was going on inside Stark Towers. Why on earth she has the arrogance to think she can investigate better than a zillion SHIELD agents is anyone's guess. Maybe she doesn't. Maybe she just thinks investigating is her thing, what she does, Tony is her friend, and she knows a thing or two about Demon Bears. It wasn't a big huge surprise to her at all to find that Jane Foster's terminal up on the top floors was the one doing things, though she hadn't announced her observation to anyone. Her mouth had just gone tight.
Funny; fighting a giant robot had weirdly resolved her ambivalence about this entire affair, reminded her how much she loves her friends, made it easy to forgive after all. Maybe it was swinging the car. Reminding her of fighting a dragon made out of cars with cars with Bucky on Berlin's streets. She didn't tamper with the investigation, she just looked. "This demon's actions," as if it was still one entity, "make no sense to me," is what she'd finally had to admit.
Arm still in a sling and ribs still aching from yesterday, she happens to hear SHIELD radios go off. And siiighs. "Oh good. A drone army."
Is she going to fail to step up because her arm is broken?
No, are you crazy? Jess steps up. Fortunately she's only on the sixth floor right around the time this happens. She leaps out the window. She hits the street. She…grabs a lamp post with her good arm, sorry City of New York, emergency conditions, unavoidable. Then she starts leaping from rooftop to rooftop to get to the proper spot. She'll be a minute, leaping rooftop to rooftop in icy conditions with a broken arm and a lamp post is both comically ridiculous looking and slow.
*
"So, my friend is MIA. Again."
"That's right, sir."
"Tony's missing too. Again."
"I thought you were talking about Stark when you said friend."
The costumed man shrugs as he pulls on a bright red glove. "I meant Barnes, but I guess Tony is too." A second's thought. "Most of the time."
"Ah, well, yes, he's missing too."
"Well, I put out the word to any Avengers I could, but well, you know how it is; saving the world means more than just the place we lay our head."
"Roger, well, by the time you get here, we can get the flight suit, a copter, or-"
"I already put in my request for what I need for this mission."
"Sir, no one does that anymore. NO ONE. That went out of vogue like 40 years ago."
A broad grin can almost be heard in tone that responds, "Which means it's the wave of the future as far as I'm concerned."
TEN MINUTES LATER.
SHIELD agents will get word that there will be an aerial unit making its way in and not to fire upon it. When the word of what it is gets their ears, they might facepalm. Or be inspired. Or both.
THE RED WHITE AND BLUE FLY TRUE AS CAPTAIN AMERICA MAKES HIS WAY IN FROM THE SKIES WITH HIS PROUD FREEDOM FLIER HANGGLINDER <TM>.
The winds of New York make enough of a updraft that Cap has an easy enough time making his way toward the scene of the battle. Despite his professional tone, he has the largest goofiest grin that comes from gratification from child-like whims. "This is Captain American to Avengers and SHIELD agents. If you are about to engage the enemy, attempt to draw them into place that have been evacuated or keep them were they are. We don't need to be making this a bigger scene than he needs to be."
*
Those drones continue their advance. Shambling. Twitching as they move. Undead constructs of a machine age. Twitching, shampling, some crawling on broken legs. They move towards the tower.
The more mobile ones leap onto walls of buildings, skittering across the brick like spiders as they flow down the streets. Moving towards that tall skyscraper that seems to have become so important to them.
Several of them pass Alice's car, one of them scraping crawled and metallic fingers down the side of her car. Though it doesn't stop to attack the woman.
Its eyes, glowing with a shadowy and unnatural light, are fixed on Stark Tower.
Lord sips his cocoa, eyes wide as he studies the outside cameras.
"Oh yeah. Defiantly under attack." A pause. "Someone should call reinforcements!" A blink. "Wait. I'M SOMEONE!" And he keys in the com system. Managing somehow to sound professional over the coms at least. "Stark Tower is under assault! More drones but no suits yet!"
Thankfully Phil Coulson cleared most of the people out to a good ten block radius. So when CAPTAIN OBVIOUS and his HANGLIDER OF AWESOME show up well. Its already set up. SHIELD thinks ahead.
Which is good, as now some of those drones are close enough to open fire. Even refurbished, repulsor beams still do damage. Even if they arn't very accurate. Chunks of wall street blasted away as people rush to the disturbance.
…though…Sally picks up something odd from her tiny little scanners. Those mini-drones picking up something loud music that seems to be getting closer…
…it…actually sounds like what ice cream trucks play.
But who would bring one of those to New York. In a Blizzard.
*
Above the scene, Spoiler reports in numbers and movements to all comms as quickly as she can, confirming Bommerang's numbers. The voice, at the moment, is unfamiliar. Maybe it's the heat of hte moment. Cap's arrival has her strengthening her resolve.
"Acknowledged, Captain," she says crisply, keying over to Bat coms to relay.
"There's an evacuated area a block frmo here, turn off on 5th," she says, then clicks back to SHIELD coms as she spies someone jumping rooftops level with her.
"Who's on the rooftops? I don't have a tag on them," she says, moving her skycycle to fly low, hoping to get some of the drones attention on her.
"Hey! Spoiler Alert, you robots are nothing but heaps of junk," she shouts at them, because taunting machines is the sensible and practical thing to do in this situation.
So is tossing a small EMP grenade into the middle of them before spinning her bike around and zipping away while looking back to see if anyone them are following her. Must try to get them to that evac'd spot after all.
*
Here is Jess running to the drones…and oh shit, no, they're running to Stark Tower. All this means is that she finally stops awkwardly roof clambering and just lands in the middle of them. She breaks the lamp post over her knee, it's awkward, she only needs half the thing, and tosses the lower half away. The upper makes a decent golf club. She hefts it experimentally, then lands right in the middle of some drones. "Batter up, or whatever," she says, even as she tries to bat some of them away from Alice's car, the spot where she in fact happened to land when she finally got her crap together.
Aaaaand then open firing. "What? Shit! They weren't shooting yesterday? They weren't shooting yesterday! Come on!" A repulsor beam very nearly takes her head off.
"They are shooting today."
Nobody gave her a shiny comm, though she also didn't think to ask for one. This is probably good, nobody really needs all this cursing and snarking cutting in and out of the professional Acknowledgements and Orders.
*
It's around the time Captain America starts to glide that that everyone can hear the Batmobile come around the corner from a side street… right on the flank of the drones.
A few buttons are pressed… and from the back of the Batmobile, a six tubed missile rack pops out.
"Computer, lock onto nearest unmanned drones." A split second later, the main screen in the Batmobile shows the target locks on a number of them, "Three missile salvo, fire." Batman orders… and everyone paying attention can hear the sound of missile fire as the Batmobile launches from the top rack at them, the payloads more than sufficient to turn them into spare parts.
*
As The crawling drone goes across her car Alice pauses. Slowly she sets the phone down and closing it and cutting off the connection. The helmet is put on with a little click and the doors open to slowly as well.
The snow crunches beneath her feet as she advances towards the mouth of the alley, following the little drone. After a moment consideration she picks up a small handful of snow and drops it on top of the skittering machine. As the liquid falls from her hand it turns more liquidy and as it hits it begins to burn whatever it touches, the snow has become an acid by her touch. "Sow chaos huh? Seems pretty chaotic already," She grumbles to herself, British accent thick with her aggravation.
*
They've been doing a lot of investigating of Stark Tower while they've been holed up in there, and most of it is to figure out just what the hell happened and to whom. Tony Stark himself is still MIA, and he's not the only one. There's no evidence that anyone here is actually _dead_, which is something, and some work with FRIDAY is at least helping to secure the building from more incursions.
That doesn't mean everything has been going smoothly. SHIELD isn't staffed by robots, and that means the occasional item has had to be confiscated from the occasional agent, and Sharon has been coordinating some of those operations inside the Tower.
Which is why, when she hears Agent Lord on the comm chatter, she has a curious metal-and-something-else plane in her hands. It's perhaps three feet long and a little under a foot wide with a slight up-curving thick area on the back. It looks sleek. It looks… fast.
Since the virus seems to be particularly interested in attacking smart technology, she's equipped herself with some of the least smart equipment she can find. Anything useful for shorting out electronics, for a start. So when she hears the call, all she has to do is hop out the nearest window. She's not quite as high up as Jessica, but she's still higher than anyone ought to be who jumps out a window without landing on something soft. As she leaps, she brings the curious little plane under her feet and, while still a story up from the ground, begins leveling out on her descent. The momentum makes the prototype hoverboard zip nicely along the pavement toward the drones as she responds:
"Understood, Captain. This is Agent 13; I'll be cutting off a rear escape. I feel like there's something driving these guys along."
*
Crap there are way more of them than last time. Boomerang doesn't get very far with trying to get a head count of them, once he gets too far past the 'What the hell am I doing?' point. Okay, no more planning, it's 'splosion time. He launches three explosive boomerangs into the depths of the group of demon bots. He doesn't wait to see the damage. He starts sprinting away, but has to put a brakes on when suddenly, there's a Jessica.
"Seriously Jones? You trying to get covered in freezin' shit again?"
He launches two razor boomerangs at the drones that are firing off repulsor rays. He also is avoiding anything smart, or technologically enhanced that might come back to haunt him, literally. He tries to urge Jessica back towards Stark towers.
*
"I am a god damn super hero," Jessica grouses at Owen, even as she slams the lamp post through the head of one of the drones. "I kicked ass. I did not kick ass gracefully, but I kicked ass. Next time you can fight the giant one and I'll try and do some ballet through the god damn drones. We'll see how well you do."
*
Sleep? Sleep is something Sloane L. Albright remembers, something she kind of needs. Since the blackout started, the Inhuman has found herself at the forefront of the crisis, not as someone aiding law enforcement, stopping criminals, or otherwise acting as a peacekeeper- instead, she's spent the forefront of the crisis acting as the means to get potable water into the hands of citizens suffering in areas without power, using her abilities to draw water from the air to fill containers, jugs, even the occasional food-grade bucket.
After the call goes out for heavy lifters, the Inhuman finds herself re-assigned, tasked to join efforts at Stark Tower to help clear the debris and look into things. Dressed in her SHIELD battle standard, the shorter-cropped jacket is replaced with a warmer coat; though the fish-dragon-girl can survive pretty well in the depths of water, the city in winter is /cold/.
"Mister Stark sure made a mess of all this, didn't he?" Sloane asks to no one, a busted- but still sizeable- crate of (presumably dangerous) materiel slung over one shoulder.
Then, in her ear, a momentary buzz of comms sounds out over the specialized plug that fits into her large, taper-point ear correctly. Drones are going nuts- and they're coming. Dropping the crate into the back of a van, the Inhuman huffs a sigh, baring sharpened incisors in an irritated, sleep-deprived sort of sneer. "'Just need thirty minutes,' I said," she murmurs under her breath. "'Catch my breath, do something easy,' I said."
She clicks the comms to broadcast on SHIELD frequencies. "Merrow here, I'll do whatever I can."
*
Embedded with SHIELD, the woman some may know as Agent Carter waits in anticipation. Dressed properly - that is battle ready - for the event, her brown hair is pulled back into a ponytail, her feet in boots rather than heels. Perched on a roof by the cleared off perimeter, she attempts to start drawing drones toward the area. A high powers SHIELD rifle rests against her shoulders as she simply starts to take pot shots at more than a dozen drones that may otherwise run past the edges. This is not to disable or to shut them down, it's to get their attention and draw them in.
"Trying to herd a few this way," she tells the comm. "Get prepared for incoming. Or more incoming than we had previously."
As soon as she has rounded up quite enough - by her estimation - she takes an opportunity to quickly reload the rifle. Then, she concentrates her shots at the nearest one and squeezes the trigger, flipping it to automatic. She braces herself as this happens, tearing into the drone before finding her next target.
*
Finally Owen's words register to Sally. Demon-bear-infused-robots? "Demon…what? Absolutely you are joking. Please say so." The suit shakes its head slowly, before there's something bizarre happening. Audio is picking up…music? Some kind of tinkly high-pitched repetitive garbage played on bells.
"I can see the machines. They are…there are a large number of them, though they seem to be scrap. These are not proper Stark drones, they're…salvaged, mixed together with many other things. Car parts, machinery." The suit jumps upwards, aiming for a ledge a few floors above the street. "They are firing on civilians! There are not many, but-" Sally glances back up the street, looking for something - there.
A repulsor bolt had pinged off the surface of one pickup truck, equipped with a snow plow - a helpful citizen just trying to pitch in, and said citizen had managed to escape with his life. The truck's still sitting there, the V-wedge of the plow a tempting and useful thing. Rusalka Stojespal was born in a cold land, and grew up around the ice. Skating is something she loves. She's also a fan of Captain America. And shields are something he loves.
A quick slash of the blade built into the suit, and the plow wedge is free - the augmented strength of the HOPPS more than enough to lift it. Planting her feet, triggering just enough of a repulsor blast from the backpack to go skating into the crowded robots, she can't help but give a wild howl for a charge. At my back, follow! Indeed!
*
Sensation whips around quickly as someone lands behind her, eyes wide behind her visor, unseen. "That's one way to make an enterance," She comments to no one in particular. Then there is shooting and rays and missiles and Alice dives and rolls behind the car. There goes her insurance premium. Hell, there may go the car.
A moment later and snowballs are being lobbed with surprising accuracy at the drones surging through the alley towards the tower.
The sizzle and pop of acid eating through metal is drowned out by Batman's missile fire. But as fast as she can Alice is flinging acidic snow. No fancy gadgets here!
*
Her EMP shorting out a few, Spoiler glances inthe direction of hearing the Batmobile open fire before counting -THAT IS WAY MORE THAN SHE WAS EXPECTING!! Drones skitter toward her and her high tech flying bike, makign the turn into the alley much more easily then she does. A few quick button pushes and she leaps clear of the bike, letting it go on autopilot to lead the drones on a merry goose chase into that uninhabited area. She clings to a fire esacpe, watching the drones speed past her.
"Spoiler to all points. Few dozen entertained on 5th and Madison, back alleys. Can I get some fire power down this way?" she's asking pullling herself to the rooftop and running to where she set her bike to lead the drones. As she moves, she pulls a dobule handful of expodey EMP throwies from her ultity belt. She pauses ont eh edge of the building looking down into the courtyard of alleyways that she led the drones into. Oh, this is going to suck. She launches her EMPs down into the fray, before tagerting select ones with her explodeys, loosing her projectiles from her slingshot. She's got better range that way. The EMP helps crowd control but knocks her bike down to the ground.
*
As STEVE ROGERS is given various information from allies and SHIELD Agents alike, he narrows his eyes as the enemy forces begin to open fire. With the bird's eye view allowing him a brief overhead view of the battle, noting the missiles from Batman's ride of wonder as well as were Jess was doing her rooftop arrival as she is joined by some guy with boomerangs. 'I didn't know we were having a visit from Captain Australia,' he quietly thinks to himself.
Unable to take the time to see where on the man's uniform that the Proud Colors of the Land Down Under are located, Steve instead realizes something, he's Front Runner right now.
In Superhero conflicts, often, you have some of your most physically powerful or experienced warriors in the front hence being a Front Runner. They 'take the aggro' as the kids call it, and decide the battleground by calling the heaviest fighting to that location. Normally, Thor, Iron Man, Hulk, or those like Captain Marvel might take that role. Right now with the assault seemingly asymmetrical, it lands on his lap.
"Roger, Agent 13, remember, information and safety first, body count second. Consider the lay of the battle, might be a bit before we could get to you if it goes sideways on us," Captain America states before taking his hang glider straight down for the robots.
H's sorry, Peggy, he's made his choice, there's no other way? After all, the Freedom Flier's Autopilot has never worked right.
As he comes in, Cap gets the fire upon him, even as he hears the cries of Sally. "Try and focus your attention on those attacking the civilians if you're on the sides, those in the front, push the battle to them to put them on the defensive!" As if keeping to the plan himself, he presses a button, which automatically unfastens him from the glider as energy blasts rip it apart. Now close enough to the ground, Steve pulls out his shield, using it help cushion the rapid fall into skilled roll, launching himself into a full bull charge with his trademark weapon into the fray.
*
"Yes. You kicked ass. And you got smashed three levels down below the street and looked like mangled shit. So just a suggestion, maybe don't try to so hard to die? And, hey! I blew it up… kind of"
It's genuine concern, just through an asshole filter. Owen's still on SHIELD comms, so he can hear Sally's reply. He announces "Demon. Bear. Dark Native American mojo is infecting all this shit. Used to want to eat souls, but apparently it's turned to zombifying tech."
He is about to comment about the snowballs, but then it's effective? And really, he's chucking boomerangs so who is he to judge. It's then that he realizes from the radio talk and from the hover bike that some Bat type heroes have appeared. Super. Any ex-girlfriends planning on showing up too?
He speeds away from Jessica, back toward the tower to give him some more space to throw things. He focuses on taking down drones that are firing, since someone appears to be armed with EMPs. Mental note: EMP Boomerangs.
*
"Roger that, Captain. Don't suppose your bird's-eye view gave you an idea of how many of these there are, where the back of the column is?" Sharon swoops around when she hears Spoiler, though, and takes that side-trip to check out what might be going on at 5th and Madison. She watches the EMPs blast through several of them and thanks her lucky stars she didn't come even a few seconds earlier. As she zips closer, she's whirling something in her hands made of lovely bright filaments. As soon as she gets into position, she hurls a lovely light-but-weighted electrified net, leaning back a little to trigger the hoverboard to go faster. The net catches several at once, but it catches more as she swerves through their numbers, sketching a brief wave at Spoiler before leaving a heap of bzzt-ing bots between the Gotham heroine and the rest of the column, continuing to make her way to the back of it.
*
If Jessica weren't fighting one-handed she would seriously flip Owen off right now. If only she knew Cap thought he was Captain Australia. That would be ammo for LIFE. Ammo. For. LIFE.
As it is she gives him a sour scowl and tips her head to Sensation and her acid snowballs with her talk of making entrances. "I try," she comments.
She's just fighting whatever's in front of her. Between having no comms and having no strategy she really is kind of the team's Leroy Jenkins today. On the flip side she's wading into the street just smashing drones left and right like they're going out of style, so there's that? It's clear she is out of the coordination loop, a random force of chaos on the battlefield, but she's at least one that's doing some good.
*
The drones? They. Are not. Prepared.
Agent Lord says that to himself as he watches the monitors.
The EMP scatters into the middle of them. Once when they were actual Stark Built automatons they could resist that, but their reubilt and rebuilt again status means that isn't the case anymore.
Several of them twitch in the middle of the pile and as others claw over or around them they are entirely unprepared for the shear volume of fire that comes.
The missiles tear into the ranked robots, mechanical limbs flying along with chunks of the street. The drones tossed around like kindling. Those in the center of the mess are suddenly faced with a very angry Jessica Jones, landing in the smoking rubble created by the Batmobile. Wholely unprepared for the assault by the super strong Defender, especially when she's backed up by a Boomerang. Owen's explosions tear into their ranks as well, and when one attempts to raise a hand to shoot at the 'hero' and retracts a stump due to that razor edged boomerang. It stares stupidly at it for a second before its head snaps back and it crashes to the ground, Agent Carter in the tower stopping it before it could recover. The left flank falters, riddled with bullets as the woman truly opens up.
Some try to get around, moving though alleys and byways only to face acid-laced snowballs. Yet another ability that they didn't expect. Parts of the rebuilt drones run to liquid, as several simply fall apart, oozing into the snow. The black light in their eyes fading to nothing.
Agent 13 whisks around behind them to check on her suspicions about a leader as Sally and Steve Rodgers lead the charge directly into their ranks, blunting the advance. Shield and snow plow send drones flying, corraled into kill boxes for the SHIELD agents that are now joining Peggy from the windows and defenses of Stark Tower.
Yes this should be easy right…
Twin Repulsor beams suddenly slam into the street infront of the Batmobile. Precice, deadly, and full strength. These blasts are not from drones, but from a full suit. One that seemingly decloaks out of thin air, burning repulsors pointed at the Dark Knight's signiture vehicle as it opens up with a barrage of mico-missiles that walk from the Batmobile's position towards where Steve and Sally fight at the front. Well. Where Sally fights and Steve…sort of crashes a broken glider in among them.
A second suit comes tearing out of an alley, following Spoiler though the air. This one still retains the sigurture styling of Tony's Iron Man, but it looks almost skeletal. Black light pours from where its ARC reactor should glow and black /something/ drips from skeletal fingers as it reaches towards her skycycle.
Two suits, this gives all the Agents there pause to worry…
…and now Sally? That music. Its only maybe a block away.
Agent 13 is the first to see what it is. It is. Indeed a ice cream truck. Fitted with a comicly huge snowplow.
…and two schoolbusses behind it. Also with snowplows. That may or may not have graffiti covering it to make it look like the face of Gotham's favorite Joker.
*
There are so many of them. Alice begins to back up as they begin to swarm towards Jessica and her. Alice notes the sling, the broken lamppost, and realizes she can be of more help then flinging acid snow.
"Hey, duck!"she says as she pulls something from the passenger floor board, through the window. Sensation comes up with what is most definitely a water gun. A full tank, that isn't standard for these, holds some kind of liquid. She sticks her pinky in and draws it out in a flurry of practiced motion. Only after Jessica ducks does she let loose with a spray of liquid. It's probably a shock to the drones in the area to find themselves coated in contact cement with a fast-set chemical. Cracks and joints are gunked, firing mechanisms jammed, and overall they become twitching and easy prey.
The helmet's speakers are off so Jessica doesn't hear Alice cursing, quite fluently, like an old English sailor. She did NOT plan on being seen by so many. This is not good, and probably why she was sent.
*
Her drones taken care of and her bike rebooted, Spoiler zips back toward the scene, aiming to where teh drones are firing. She'd given Agent 13 a nod as she mounted back up, a silent thanks for the assist. Rogers said something about civilians in the way, and realizing that her bike makes BEAUTIFUL bait, Spoiler guns it, hoping to dart in and get some of the drones to lay off teh civilians while angeling then so they'll present easier targets for the others.
"They like the shiny! Low tech options should be on DPS! I'll play Agility Tank and try to keep their attention," Spoiler calls out as she cuts her bike hard to try to avoid their fire AND them trying to jump onto her bike. It's a split second to see Jessica… swinging a lamppost.. one handed like a freaking boffer sword.
Oh My God, the Nerd is my brain!
"I've got their attention!" she calls out, loud enough to be heard by those near her WITHOUT the coms while three drones have attached to her bike and are starting to chew.
*
The Batmobile would probably also count as a potential 'Front Runner' with the serious military grade armor on it, but Batman seems to think he's more useful at a distance as a weapons platform.
In between salvos, Batman can be heard over the comm network, voice scrambled, "This is Batman. The Batmobile can handle everything these drones can output. If you need help or a distraction, come over to me and I'll do wh-" Which is suddenly cut off as repulsors suddenly blast the Batmobile.
Yes, the thing has armor to rival Starks latest designs, but those things *push* the Batmobile back a few paces, even with the spikey snow tires, and the sounds of a voice scrambled pained grunt sound over the open comm network as Batman is rattled within his armored tank. No time to turn off comms, everyone can hear Batman scream, "INITIATE MISSILE COUNTER MEASURES!" As the Batman suddenly swerves to drive right through the drones… and over to Captain America and Sally.
Batman is trying to mitigate, or at least draw the micro-missile fire onto the Batmobile, it seems.
*
Over the comms, "I'm sorry Batman, I couldn't hear you say how fu*(ing great you are. You cut out there. Need a hand?" Because Boomerang is a dick. And it's really fun to offer to help Batman. He will likely never get that chance again.
*
Peggy keeps firing as drones continue their onslaught. While she's generally more of a stealth and attack Agent, she has stormed compounds and beaches before. This is not out of her wheelhouse. And as such, when the drones fly up and at her, she merely starts stepping in measured steps backward. When the gun clicks out of ammo, she ejects the clip and smoothly grabs another. It's possible she took a few tips from watching Bucky Barnes: Peggy Carter likes learning from the best.
Finally managing to quell the drones she drew the attention of, there's a brief smirk at seeing Captain America eject from the glider and freefall to the earth like a Freedom's Bowling Ball. However, her attention is quickly diverted to the new problems and - just as importantly - crowd control.
Over the comms, she lets those on the SHIELD channel know, "I have eagle eyes on the situation and am policing the perimeter."
*
That's. Not good. Sharon skids to a brief halt, staring at two schoolbuses and an ice cream truck that seem to be cheerfully trundling down the road behind the 'bots. The paint job is… certainly interesting.
"Agent 13 to Batman," she says, raising her hand to activate her comlink. "You're going to want to see what's driving them this way. I think one of your more fun-loving little friends decided to tag along to… clown around? I don't recommend trying to drive through the phalanx, but I think you want to be over here. If you go one block over and head north, you'll see us."
She's going to have to get alongside the vehicles to get at their wheels-alongside or behind. She's going to try behind; it'll be harder to sideswipe her that way.
*
The three drones on the Spoiler cycle are indeed chomping into it. In fact she can see something very disturbing at this point.
Where they touch, where they bite with torn mechanical jaws, a black shadowy corruption slowly starts to spread from there. Eating through her bike which is…starting to not respond quite as well.
*
"Yes sir!" This to Rogers, as Captain America bulls his way into the group. Sally's admittedly doing some of the same, the plow hopefully enough to shatter or knock around some of these shoddily built drones. Up close, her assessment was correct - they're only minimally Stark technology at this point. An arm here, a body and head there; the rest of it looks vaguely human but…shaped, no more than that. And glued together by -
A particularly frightened set of swearing in a foreign language unintentionally slips out over the SHIELD network.
Finally back to english. "A honey-eater…" It's enough to startle her into silence for a moment before she shakes her head. "That which stalks the moon, it is real…it is doing this? Why?" The plow, bent and twisted after her bull charge through the first part of the crowd, gets tossed aside - but before following in after Cap, that damned music starts getting louder.
Then the explosions roll in, and the music doesn't matter. The blast from the missiles is painfully surprising. Sent reeling, the Sokovian half-crashes into a building before managing to get her wits once more - thankfully, Myuriy's quick responses throw up a holographic projection of the corner of the building itself around her. Nothing to see here, please move along, says the chameleon system.
A few whispers, before thinking. Hard. And staring at her drone feeds just as hard. "There are two Stark suits in play! They are infected and controlled by the demon; do not let them touch you! The blue one…" How do you defeat stealth? By ruining its signature. A feral grin crosses her face as one of the six mini-drones the HOPPS deployed earlier comes speeding in to try to dock with the Mark 27 - and then broadcast the biggest SHOOT ME signal it can, like a flare landing in its lap.
"That should do it! Aim for the drone!"
*
Once the crate's loaded- sort of- Sloane steps away from the van and clicks the snaps holding the collar of her coat closed, opening the zipper with a firm tug while walking at a brisk pace to keep up with Peg and other Agents. "I'm with you, ma'am!"
Pulling a canteen of water out of her coat, she spins the cap off before pouring the contents out over the palm of one hand. It catches- floats- before going too far, forming a sphere that's just enough to prime her powers in the winter weather and all that she's been doing in the last few days, ending with a quick haul off the end of it before throwing the container to the street.
Swirling the sphere of water around between her hands as she walks, Merrow is keeping a sharp eye on alleyways, corners, and sharp cover, providing cover fire of her own- less of the ballistic variety, and more of the 'projecting a firehose from her hand' variety. It also looks pretty, what with the mist and chilly air. "My kingdom for a frickin' /teakettle/!"
*
As Sharon requests information, Rogers attempts to leap back from the fighting to speak on the comm, his free hand to the side of his helm/cowl. But as he does, one of the drones is able to grab the edge of the shield, which leaves the hero vulnerable to one of the robotic peers blasting straight into Steve's chest with a full powered blast, tearing away armor right where the white star so proudly is displayed.
"I think there were a few dozen, not sure how many are combat ready and how-Earogh!"
Steve (who thankfully is able to keep his shield from the metal grip of evil) is tossed like a ragdoll about thirty or so feet. This seems almost disastrous as missiles slam into the area where Rogers lands, having the whole place go up in fire. For a second, there is that chilling sound that lets people know that the Heartbeat of America has stopped. "Captain America is down, I repeat he is-" As quickly as the alert goes down, the Red White and Blue rises once more, his shield smoking from the last minute save. It's likely that Batman's efforts helped in that, as having the shield block three missiles is a lot easier than trying to block twenty. A simple salute is given toward the Batmobile to show gratitude before raising his shield to defend himself and catch his breath for just a second.
"Sorry to worry you all, but not giving up the fight that easy. I think some of the suit's equipment busted though," Steve offers as he assesses the situation. Seeing as the Iron Man suit is attacking, he tries to throw the proud shield right into one of the neck joints. It's like he knows exactly how to take down an Iron Man suit with repeated shield throws. Or maybe it's just luck. We'll go with the second one. "Agent Carter, we able to get an idea of the vehicles' payload? Not sure if this is Demon Bear stuff or not." There is a pause as Sharon makes a joke. "Demon clowns?" he attempts to guess using his power of American Deduction to figure this out from what the people on the comms are talking about.
*
There is so much happening at once that Owen has to actually speed up just to process it all. He blurs long enough to get himself in order and declares over comms.
"Tweenage Batgirl, yer bike is about to convert to Satanism and sacrifice you to the Dark Lord. Hope you have a self destruct button. Use it sweetie."
He hears the news of the impending arrival of the Joker and he like white girls everywhere just can't even. It's like he's cursed. It was a one night thing! Shake it off, it's probably just a horrible coincidence. Wait, was the cat that Emery hit the other night black by any chance? That would explain a fraction of this horrible streak of luck.. maybe.
Hearing instructions from Rusalka over the comms though gives him a target to actually do some good. He goes with the standard play that worked last time on Igor, Stealth suit has a shocky boomerang with 20M Volts headed at it's chest and an exploding boomerang looping around the back.
*
When someone tells Jess Jones to duck, the PI listens. She ducks, and this stuff spews over her head, and she shoots Sensation an impressed look. "Ok, that was cool…"
She looks up.
"Missiles? Seriously? Oh. Missiles coming our way. Seriously."
She grabs up a dead drone and just slams it up to take the missiles coming their way. This doesn't go quite like she expects; it means there's a blown up drone in her arms, some concussive force. She is knocked back, goes ice skating practically on her ass to land at Sensation's feet. She gives a wry thumbs up and reclaims her lamp post to skid back out into the chaos.
Look, she bought up all the smashing shit feats and none of the 'do it with style' feats, leave her alone.
*
Sensation there is a click across the comms and a distorted feminine voice comes over them as Sensation's simpler helmet comms finally link in to the others. But she had no intention to broadcast when it did, is everyone hears more strings of expletives. Then the realization of connectivity registers and the feed cuts off.
It means she hears the warning of both suits and the Joker. "We have incoming, love. Joker goons and two…suits?" The question comes a startled expletive as a beam narrowly misses her. She moves forward to stand side by side with Jessica, on her bad arm side. Her hand darts out to brush across The closest bit of exposed flesh on the strength monster. The touch, if she makes it, sends an adrenaline-like surge coupled with the pain of her injuries fading to bare aches. Fentanyl and adrenaline converted within Jones' own body, helpful if surprising. What does steroid powered Jessica hit like?
*
Owen's words over the com have Spoiler turning to look back. Behind her cowl, her eyes widen. The Darkness.
"Flood lights! Get some flood lights!" she calls out as she pulls out the flash light T-er Robin gave her. Turning in her seat, she brings her 'weapon' to bear like she's wielding a freakin' laser sword. Over the darkenss on her bike, over the drones.
"Spoiler to Tower, anyone read?! We need flood lights! Any light. All the light!"
*
"NO!" Rusalka can't help the yell when Steve gets blasted, and manages to fling an errant piece of scrap at the offending, repulsor-blasting drone. It doesn't do much other than get its attention, but at least it's not shooting at Captain America anymore. And then it doesn't matter, as its sudden freeze makes it a stupidly easy target for the missile fire from the Batmobile.
Technological stir fry.
But Cap is up once more, into the fight, working alongside the bat directly. They've got this covered…so what's going on over there? "Myuriy, feed in drones four and five." Sally stays hunkered down in her invisible spot, hoping the holographic system is enough to protect her. And hoping that brave drone six's suicide mission is successful; defeating Stark's stealthing is difficult.
The display freshens, giving her a new feed. "Yes, confirmed. All on this frequency, there are three large transports, buses, moving towards the tower." Video is sent out as well for confirmation. "These are not drones, I say again, these are not drones." How the hell does she fight these? Thankfully her boss had thought ahead, and the cloaking field drops as the HOPPS begins doing precisely that.
Thank you, Mr. Stark, for the ICER. Now where ARE you?
An idea forms. "Drone one…backtrack the path these drones have taken. Find their origin point." That leaves two and three to watch things, and fill in if any of the others are shot down. Maybe there's something to where these things came from that will lead them to the Moon Stalker. Or else to JARVIS.
*
By this time, the comm system *is* shut down, but the painful sound of an unknown missiles *slams* into the Batmobile. Some lights are sent off -a general countermeasure against whatever system is being used for target locks- but at least ten of the missiles crash into the Batmobile itself or veer off with the countermeasures, and the explosions can be heard from blocks away. There's a few burn marks where the missiles hit on the side, but otherwise the Batmobile seems functional.
Inside, Batman grunts and shakes his head, clearing his own disorientation, "Computer, damage assessment." The screen flicks on. Some armor damage, and the stabilizer was hit… No doing high speed chases until he can get back into the Batcarrier for a maintenence cycle. His private comm channel is opened, "Alfred, check all outbound Gotham cameras for the last three days on the surveillance network. I've got a report of the Joker coming up here." Alfred replies, "The Joker, Sir?" Batman grates, "It's unconfirmed, but the Batmobile just registered ice cream truck music, and a SHIELD agent just made a pun about clowns." Batman observes.
As he speaks, buttons are being pressed, and the missile rack bottom tubes are primed, targetted, and fired at nearby targets, before he drives off right through the drones, over towards the newcomers, "This is Batman, I'm on my way."
*
The drones are trashed, between the suits missiles, the remaining EMP, the Batmobile driving /though/ their ranks and the rest. Well. Those things don't last long. They are melted. Blasted. Frozen by waterspouts to the walls of alleyways. They are not an issue.
The actual Iron Man suits are a different problem.
The Mark 27, Codename Disco if anyone is wondering, suddenly finds itself wreathed in drones. Which makes targeting it simpler as it can't dissipear again, case in point as Cap's shield slams into it hard, knocking it around in the air and sending sparks arking from the neck joint.
The suit turns in his direction, raising his repulsor to fire towards the Captain as black light pours from its faceplate.
Agent 13 makes a good decision to get around the speeding vehicles because they are defintally not obeying safty codes at this point. They scream down the icey streets and do indeed try to swipe her should she get close enough. Or even if they don't…
Its just fun.
Along the side of one of the busses is spraypainted 'FIELD TRIP BUS' and it seems to be loaded with well…well armed figures in clown masks. Some of them wave towards her.
Just because its a thing to do.
Spoiler turns the light of Justice on the shadows and darkness around, and it burns them. Screaching the drones fall from the cycle, and the Mark 40, also known as Bones, veers off and towards Stark Tower instead. Choosing to light up the entry way with repulsor fire. HI SLOANE.
Thankfully the damage from the missile salvo wasn't nearly as bad due to Batman's quick thinking. But his old friends are suddenly screaming around the last corner towards the tower. Two busses and an ice cream truck. That kid friendly music not so friendly when the truck is being driven at eighty down icy streets and with a razor edge snowplow barreling down on them.
Specificly barreling towards Jessica Jones and her new friend, and of course. Always. The Batman. One of the busses is aiming right for the Batmobile.
*
The sensation of pain fading to nothing and an arm and ribs that all work right now widens Jessica's eyes in shock. She's good enough at her job that she kicks a drone away during.
And then? And THEN the adrenaline and steroids hit.
Yee. HAW. There's a bus barreling towards her. She leaps, but it's not a power leap; she goes soaring to try to shoulder check that thing directly in the fender to try to put a halt to that before it can crush her new friend.
Adrenaline always did it before. Unconscious quick flights. One longer one after taking like. 13 head injuries. Being healed and cleansed doesn't hurt either; despite two months of sobriety there were a lot of lingering effects of a lifetime of alcohol abuse in her blood stream. So Jessica Jones has never flown before.
"Holy shit," she gasps, and while it should be for a truck being driven at eighty that she's trying to shoulder check, which she really shouldn't- slow moving cars, not fast moving cars, are what she can stop (but maybe she can at least slow, crush, and generally hamper so Sensation can can get out of the way)- but because she is _flying._
It occurs to her that she's not really going to stop this truck fast enough; she kicks off the very dented front of it and goes swooping to pick Sensation up before the truck can hit her. "Holy shit," she says, really intelligently again. "Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit!"
She at least thinks to hold her new friend in a way that makes it easy for her to make her gun do its thing, and has the presence of mind to do it in a way that might. You know. Help her aim.
"I'm flying," she informs Sensation stupidly. "I can't fly," she informs her again. "I fall with style."
But she's not falling with style now, this is actual super-flight, with maneuverability. And everything.
*
Of course as the Disco fires, the first boomerang slams into its chest. Lightning wreathes it, freezing it in place as the second one slams into his back and the force of the blast sends it crashing to earth.
…right towards Steve and Owen in fact.
Look at that. Both Captains working together!
And in the Tower? Agent Lord is trying franticly to find some outside floodlights. "WHY ARE THERE SO MANY BUTTONS?!"
*
As Sharon is zipping past the clownbuses-recon work is hella fun-she reaches to her utility belt (popularized by Batman, let's be real) and withdraws a handful of caltrops. The fling might or might not take out a few tires, given how thick those tires are, but they would have been scooped up by the plows in front. She doesn't exactly carry spike strips with her wherever she goes. It's an attempt, anyway.
"Agent 13 here. Two schoolbuses loaded with gun-toting clowns. I haven't seen inside the ice cream truck, but it's a good bet that's the command and control unit. Targeting the buses first."
It's when she skids behind them that the real fun starts. Two little discs flip from her hands to underneath those schoolbuses, dragged up by those nice ferrous metals, and then erupt in electricity that should short out any electronics in those vehicles. Hopefully it'll stop them cruising forward.
*
And then? She's skating toward the back of the ice cream truck. Maybe she wants a sno-cone.
*
The oncoming ice cream truck is moving fast as hell, but it's also on a very particular course. All that weight is not going to turn well, the vehicle's performance blatantly obvious even to someone who wasn't quite the petrolhead Sally is. For her? She can read the thing like a book. And it won't be hard at all to accomplish the insane stunt she'd come up with.
How does a wolf bring down a bear? By nipping and drawing and feinting at it…and crippling it's movement. The ICER remains tucked away while the sword is deployed, and Sally skids to a stop on the ice-covered street just inches from the side of the truck. Even if they'd wanted to nail her with the plow, it's just not possible without flipping it sideways.
And flipping sideways is about to happen. As it roars past, the sword flicks out, slashing both through the tire and the wheel, letting it rip away from the ice cream truck. All that weight from the plow on the front end of it, even more than the vehicle is used to, is hopefully going to dig it into the asphalt like a shovel.
She has to agree with Sloane. Morpheus was cool.
*
Emboldened by the effectiveness of the flashight, Spoiler spins her now-hers-again skycycle, surveying the scene quickly. Gun -toting CLOWNS.. in a school bus… near an ice cream truck? Oh, who the heck invited that guy? With no more drones in sight but a suit opening fire on a team mate, Spoiler revs her engine and flies right at it, aiming for ramming speed. Just before impact, the aubergine batling Avenger plans to leap clear, use her graple gun to hook a nearby building and swing clear. She'll recall the bike to her after it (hopefully!) slams into the suit firing on Slonae.
*
Sensation turns as the last of their wave of drones is taken down. Their being Jessica and her, because in chaos find the friendlies and stick close.
"Behind us!" That filtered voice sounds, giving Jessica warning of the vehicles bearing down on them. At 80mph it's unlikely she can get out of the way in time. So Sensation primes the liquid inside again in a practiced gesture, changing the contents of the barrel once more. "Whoa! Okay Hi," Sensation was at least running for the alley instead of being squished, then she is flying. It's been over a decade since she's played the co-op hero game. Yet she remembers and aims without pause as they gain lift, spraying acid across tires and windows and roof. The acid eats away and the excess drips onto the clowns beneath.
*
Sweet! That totally worked with the two boomerangs and the .. WHAT THE HELL? Boomerang doesn't have time to really relish his 'victory' as the very much still going form of Disco is about to smush him and … Captain America? Okay Cap would probably be fine, but just in case Boomerang goes for the save with a super fast blur of speed to move Steve about 10' feet to the right of impact.
"Totally just saved Captain America by the way."
Boomerang doesn't follow up with any conversation though, instead he's moving for the remaining suit. He looks over and sees Jessica… flying…? He hasn't done drugs in like.. a day! He totally shouldn't be seeing things like that.
"For you common New Yorkers not fully prepared for a couple bus loads of Gotham level crazy. I would forecast a 99 percent chance of bombs, and slightly lower percent chance of poison gas and hostages on that bus. Because SOME ONE brought the Gotham crazies."
*
While normally Batman wouldn't be worried about busses… this is the Joker we're talking about, and there's every possibility those things are loaded with explosives, or worse.
"Sir, I have two busses with Joker … art… and an ice cream truck coming out onto a highway, on a high way that can lead to New York."
Every intercept strategy Batman came up with just went out the window, and Batman goes over comms, "Do not stop or intercept those busses. Slow them down if you can. Those are from Joker, and there are a dozen different things he could have done to those. Check the inside for hostages bombs, or canisters *first*." Batman barks over the comm as he does yet another 180. High speed chase it is. it'd be enough to give Batman whiplash if he didn't have the specialty tires, and the Batmobile goes full speed to 80 to give the first bus a merry chase.
"I'll buy time."
*
Explosives? Hostages? That's not that hard to distinguish. "I will search!" Sally's voice cuts across the radio for a moment, answering the Bat. "Myuriy, drones two and three. They are to approach the two buses, I need camera feeds direct from them. Now! Maximum speed!"
The mini-drones are probably beating their little hearts out in reply, trying to catch up to the speeding vehicles. Cameras and sensors plumb the buses, looking for whatever openings might there be - covered windows, an open door, even just a bullet hole in there. Anything they can get a view through. Sally has got to find out what's in them.
Meanwhile she thinks back to old tales of her great grandmother and the family, and they way they'd fought back then. Explosives could be on remote triggers…and even if they weren't, there'd have to be some kind of coordination, right? "Agent Lord! Are those buses..are there any radio broadcasts? What frequencies do they use?"
Probably something in the civil bands, over the counter walkie talkies. She's not sure, just gambling…but there's always one way to deal with explosives. Readying up a particular favorite piece of music, she's getting ready to just outright blast it over the airwaves as a jamming mechanism. Just so long as those buses stay unoccupied…or aren't laden with poison bombs or whatever.
*
The shield comes back right in time for Captain America to catch it and deflect the beam from the first Disco Assault. Then the suit comes down to attack or land, but Cap doesn't even move before he's shifted to the side.
"You should have a normal relationship with your sister!" Steve exclaims before he looks over toward Boomerang. "Oh, thought you were someone else," he awkward points out before looking toward the battle looming. Using his shield to defend himself, he speaks on the radio once more.
"This is Cap here, what's the situation? Is the Joker units working in tandem with the Demon Bear thing?"
Clearly, the situation is starting to get chaotic, which means he focuses on what is first and foremost: bringing order, rhythm, and cohesion within the superheroes present.
*
A dry voice comments over comms in response to Boomerang, "It wasn't me," Of course everyone knows whose fault it is, but Sensation couldn't resist the flippancy.
"Drop me on the rear bus," She tells Jessica. Hopefully that's a request she can grant being new to the whole flying thing. As she does she pulls what looks like a simple can of air from her belt. The squirt gun is left to hang from its shoulder strap. A quick hiss over her fingers from the can and she grins, "Nitrous oxide it is," She comments as she hears the Dark Knight's suggestion.
Now Sensation falls with style, landing noisily on top of the bus as Jessica drops her as requested. She rolls and comes up running, heading for the back and the emergency door on any school bus. Sensation may be an attentive mother other times, but she is pretty sure she prefers playing field trip chaperone to kids, not clowns. Still, knowing how a bus works means she can do the gymnastic twist at the back to lean down and grab open the emergency door and yank up. This causes it to fly open and she ducks before twisting the cap off her canister and shucking it inside. Unlike commercial air cans, hers have extra kick. And this one had concentrated nitrous oxide (sleeping gas) in it. She waves before leveraging back onto the roof.
*
Holy crap, that lady is flying. It would be a real shame if someone she knew were to swing by on a cable of some kind, like some kind of webbing, to take a picture of this flight. Fortunately for Jessica, that person is not actually here right now.
Sloane often leaves the swordplay to Sally; for all her strengths (including physical), the scale-covered girl prefers to stay at range, flinging another quick lash of water. She's trying to conserve a bit; pull water back that she doesn't need once she's smacked drones around, but things end up escalating a little bit.
She's unfortunately never given a chance to catch her breath too long. Repulsor beams are firing from the suit above, and the Inhuman barely has the time to shield herself with scale-backed arms before the concussive force sends her flying back into the frame of the entryway. The comms catch a short, "FUC-" before the blast of snow, concrete, and glass.
"You son of a-"
Merrow's fangs are bared, quite literally; long, sharp incisors that add to the fearsome appearance. The winter coat is scorched and torn, the all-weather wetsuit underneath frayed at the seams- and then she runs. Not toward guns or cars or weapons, but instead right out into the street. Fingers hooking into notches meant for tools and leverages, the Inhuman hefts a manhole cover with one hand. Then, as though she were Columbia University Music Department, former ultimate frisbee champion…
The SHIELD agent /flings/ the manhole cover at the Mark 40 like she's trying to cave the chest in.
*
Sensation cackles "We say that at our weekend long LARPs"
*
And suddenly a lot of things happen at once.
Thats usually how these things go.
Agent 13's caltrops slash tires, giving the buses an even more difficult time of driving, even as they barrel down 5th Avenaue towards Stark Tower. The electrics cry havoc with the electronics of the vehicles as they go, power systems going out but so far nothing has exploded.
Jessica cannons into one, dropping Sensation down on top of the thing to fling sleeping gas though a shattered window. That vehicle suddenly creens off course, slamming into a lamp post with a crunch, throwing a clown though the winshield and into the snow. Don't worry though he went boneless I'm sure he's fine!
The ice cream truck is in worse shape though as Sally's sword cuts into it, removing a tire and sending up sparks as it does indeed go right over, skidding towards the tower.
…it also doesn't explode.
Yet.
Radio waves? Just as Agent 13 suggested, those are coming from that ice cream truck. Carried and disguised on the music still blaring from speakers. One of the drones peeks inside? And there are rows and rows of some kind of canisters.
Gas canisters.
Several people there tied up and gaged, and a clown driver looking very suprised by this development.
Its prolly fine.
The other bus continues on its way and as Batman starts to turn he might realize that its /not/ following. In fact its still speeding down the street like a missile, slowed now by busted tires and busted electronics. Right for the gates of Stark Tower.
The situation is indeed chaotic for Steve and Owen, but as the dust of the passing of the Clown Cars pass there is something of an imeadeate problem. The whir of servos as the Disco suit slowly raises and reaches up to wrap metal fingers around Cap's shield to try to rip it away from him.
And punch him at the same time for good measure.
Owen will get the backhand if he's not careful.
Owen's boomerang sticks from its chest, and the explosion put a hole in the plates of its back but the black light pouring from its eyeslits still gleams angrily as it faces the pair.
The Bones suit readies to fire again when that Skycycle slams into it. Driving it though the air. Distracted and fustrated the Bones punches the cycle into the ground in rage before turning on Spoiler. It jets towards her, arm back for a super punch when Sloane's thrown 'shield' comes out of the night to crunch into its side and back. The unarmored frame was ment for speed and the thrown metal plates part under the force of the hit severing connections and compounting the damage its already taken.
…it also catapults the suit into Spoiler.
…er…it'll be fine.
*
Once Sensation gasses everyone inside their vehicle, Jessica waits. She peers through the windshield to make sure they're all down. Then she just kind of. Rips the side off the thing like a can-opener. She gently drops that with a tooth shattering clang, and then swoops in to get the gas cannisters. Unconscious clowns are unlikely to set them off, but she's taking no chances. Pleased to find they are linked, she hoists them up.
"Anyone ever notice how often this superhero bullshit exactly resembles being garbagepeople? Garbagepersons?"
This is to nobody in particular. But with a quick grin- she swooops through the air towards the river. "Fuck you, Peter Pan," she says cheerfully. Oh, the river's iced over. Not a problem. She thumps down like an arrow to punch out a big section of ice, and then swoops back up and drops the gas bombs right in. "What's a little more pollution?" she asks dryly.
And then she giggles.
Don't mind her. Adrenaline and fentanyl and sudden discoveries. They're…having…an…effect.
*
Spoiler had lept away beautifully. Her grapel hook caught. She swung toward a building and got nailed by the Bones suit. She didn't even see the thing coming. She had no way to try to roll with the impact. Limp, Spoiler falls from her line, carried by the momentum of the impact. She hits the next building, drops to a canopy tarp over the entrane to a dark and silent building and falls through it to and with a bone crunching and dull soundign htump on the sidewalk. Her coms are silent and the purple and black Nightmare Before Christmass scarf she had wrapped about the exposed lower part of her face flutters on the by her shoulder.
*
Got it. Agent 13 confirms the radio, and frequency isolation makes it simple. It's likely on a deadman system, and Sally realizes her earlier idea of jamming it all wouldn't work as well as she'd first considered. A sudden sharp gasp as she sees the interior of the ice cream truck she'd just disabled.
"GAS! Gas canisters in the vehicles! Hostages too!"
The shout goes out over the radio to all the shield agents and anyone else listening in; whatever's in those dispensers has GOT to go. More important things first - the radio communications systems built into the HOPPS go live with broadcasting a duplicate signal of the one the icecream truck sends out. Whatever it's sending, it's friends aren't going to stop hearing.
Hopefully the side of the truck isn't armored. As soon as Myuriy's finished with setting up its broadcast, Sally's first thought is to peel it like a tin can and free the hostages. If he's still active, the clown in front is going to get an ICER to put him down.
*
"One down," Sharon announces, zipping up to the back of the ice cream truck. "One incoming bus, guys, with a snowplow on the front. Second bus down. Ice cream truck… hostages! We have hostages and some kind of gas canisters. Batman, do you copy? What can we expect out of those canisters?"
Whatever they can expect, though, Jessica has picked them up and darted for the sea. Hopefully Smilex doesn't have too many issues with fish.
She's up to the hostages in a moment, and as Sally goes to release them, Agent 13 adds: "Check to see if they're wired. I don't trust a thing I see when it comes from Gotham." Reaching through the broken driver's-side window, she drags the clown-driver out by his collar and gives him a bright smile.
"Surrender?" she inquires.
*
Okay fine tweenage batgirl seems to be doing just fine with her cycle attack. Boomerang is for some reason taking the time to make sure that she grapples away safely which leaves him open for a good solid backhand from the Disco suit. Something crunches in his not all that unscarred face and he goes tumbling backwards, watching a different suit slam into Spoiler midswing as he flies backwards. He rolls across the pavement.
Getting to his feet unsteadily, he flings a gravity boomerang at the back of Disco, hoping to trap it in place long enough for Cap to finish it off but good. And he's not waiting around in case it comes back to bite him.
He makes a dash for where Spoiler fell. For all his bluff and bluster against the bat folks, it's a thin veneer over the soul crushing guilt he has talked about exactly once in his life. He finds her and users his speed to get back up to the rooftops.
"Batman. I realize yer busy. Spoiler is down but safe, on a roof. She'll be fine."
No cussing them out. Using their actual codenames. He's on his bestest behavior. Well, he was until he looks down at the girl, whose mask has slipped and says "Wow. She's kinda hot." He slips the remaining boomerangs from his chest pouches, takes off his jacket to cover her and walks to the edge of the roof to survey where to chuck fancy sticks at next.
*
It's impossible to predict the Joker at the best of times. Here? The orders for the goons are clear; screw with Batman's project. Batman is a nice bonus.
Priority one: deal with immediate threats.
The Batmobile whips against once more, and out of the front comes a hook launcher. To anyone looking at the projectile, there's a set of claws, and a large magnetic component within.
And that grapple is launched at the bus going right for Sloane, before it gets pulled *hard* from the side. Batman is clearly trying to divert course, or send the bus rolling..
"Don't expect anything. Expect everything. You don't predict Joker; you react to what he throws at you and hope it's enough. Sometimes it's Joker toxin. Sometimes it's simple poison. Sometimes it's more. Assume whatever it is is not good to breath." Batman grunts out as he drives backward against the momentum of his target, the reinforced titanium-carbon nanomatrix alloy of the line making it *very* hard to break free of him.
*
Sensation shivers as she gives herself a steroid boost before taking a running leap off the now-stopped bus. Landing just ahead of the crumpled front she breaks into a run for the ice cream truck. Over the comms comes that unfamiliar voice, "I'm on the gas," Sensation says as she heads for the ice cream truck.
Sensation stops and almost slides into the back on the ice. All she does is hock a loogie on the lock and it sizzles, saliva turned to acid. Then she is yanking the door open and kneeling by the tanks. This is her game, her passion, and she finds what she is looking for. And she shoves her finger against the test vent and then releases the gas from that canister. As it flows past her hand it is converted, all the way into the cannister, to pure oxygen. It takes only a moment and then she is on to converting the rest. Let others deal with hostages.
*
Sensation joins her at the ice cream truck, and helps enter - and then immediately starts venting the gas?! It's enough of a startling thing to see that Sally slips right back into her native tongue for a moment. "Shcho, chort viz'my, ty robysh?! Stop that!" A moment later the air sensor reads pure oxygen - she's transforming it somehow?
"Nevermind! Continue doing just that!" And whoever's tied up and hostaged is getting pulled from the vehicle. "Medical to this site! Hostages rescued!"
*
The manhole cover gambit works a bit too well- the suit takes the heavy blow, then ends up going straight into Spoiler a few moments later. Shifting her footing, the Inhuman's start to race toward the fallen vigilante stops short; Boomerang ends up with the situation well in hand. Then-
- then, she can turn her head and see a bus coming straight toward her. Merrow's fiery orange eyes widen to the size of dinnerplates. She looks back, yelling entirely out of concern and fear: "Clear the entrance!! Incoming!!"
The Inhuman's weight drops, hands hovering a few inches above the ground before she draws in some of that ambient moisture- her own spilled waters from the canteen, the snow trampled and smashed around and wet on the city streets- before pushing off from the ground with a jump… and a twin spout of water that gives her a boost up and away.
Positive: Merrow does this right. Negative: She really hasn't practiced the landing over ground.
Coming back down hard while the Gotham vigilante does his best to divert the bus, Merrow lands in a squat, forward tumble, and on-the-shoulder roll, sprawling across snow and ice. It takes a moment to get back up to her feet- and hopefully clear of further damage, steadying herself before firing a quick glance back…
*
The battle takes a causality and in the wake of the boomerang, Cap hears the report that she is safe, which causes him some relief. This all happens as Steve Rogers is forced to Do His Thang (a phrase that he's been told he's not allowed to say to try and be more cool). The shield is grappled by the automated horror, the second time such a thing as occurred tonight, but this time, as the fist is pulled back, Rogers is withdrawing his own weapon, a special alloyed k-bar knife, the weapon seeking to lodge itself in the face of his foe over and over again. When it's not a living being, it's so easy to use the killing efforts that Steve was known for in the war. Thankfully, it's something that history chooses not to celebrate with regards to the national hero.
*
Winter Soldier dropped snow poff.
*
Sensation moves to the next canister and then something flashes across her helmet display. She pauses for a heartbeat and the next canister is also spewing vapor. Only this one is, in essence, cannabis gas. The bright side? The hostages become very happy and compliant. The bad? Well, not much as the gas doesn't really effect anyone beyond the ice cream truck.
*
So. The Disco was /not/ expecting a knife.
Between Owen's gravity distortions and the sudden stabbing the k-bar hits something important. The punch goes wide as the whole system shudders and sags forwards onto the Captain with the Red White and Blue blood. The light dies in its eyes as it deactivates. A puppet once again without strings.
The clown in the ice cream truck is just opening his eyes when that special ICER goes off. Green /something/ spreads from the contact sight as he freezes for a split second then goes entirely limp.
The gas continues to click away, though Sally and Sensation might see something on the drivers console.
A countdown.
From 20 seconds.
Who knows when it started.
That last bus goes careening down the way only to be /slammed/ into with Batman's line. Pulled off its course it overcompensates, the abused tires and drive systems tip it over as it goes sliding down the icy road to slam into the front of Stark Tower. Though it does little more than shatter those front windows and doors.
Jessica gets the poison away, which is good, though some of the clowns seem to be waking up. Which is bad. Though the driver? Oh yeah. He's waking up to Agent 13's face with wide eyes. Hands above his head.
And he giggles.
…Joker doesn't pick the sane ones.
Its hard to tell if he agrees to this surrender thing or not.
Owen can see the goons in the ripped up bus are stirring, and others are starting to push their way out of the windows of the tipped over one and fire…well…wildly.
Like Joker's people do.
Hitting someone really isn't the main intent. Its just kinda fun.
And yes. There is still ice cream in the ice cream truck.
Its all rocky road.
*
Well now that he's promised that Spoiler is safe, Owen feels like he can't really just leave her like he had initially said. Especially not because there is are bus loads of clowns and no Joker. So he maintains his rooftop position and uses razor boomerangs to take off the barrels of the guns, and the occasional hand. He's not really clear on the maiming protocol amongst heroes and it's been a rough couple of days. He at least remembers not to out right cut their throats this time. Progress!
He will remain vigilant in this position until things die down and some other hero type comes to retrieve Spoiler, and then it's speed bursting away as if he's trying to avoid something as horrible as a committed relationship or listening to Luke sing along to the jukebox.
*
They've got this wrapped up. Whatever Sally's companion is doing to the gas is neutralizing it somehow, and meanwhile the hostages are being extracted easily with the boosted strength of the suit. It's almost like they've won, especially with the unconscious clown in the driver's seat, all but captured.
Or maybe not. Tick tick tick. A timer passes twenty seconds on the dashboard, and in an instant Sally practically leaps over the unconscious clown to pull the dashboard back and see what it's connected to. Sixteen seconds, but she's keeping it cool - focusing on it like a race, knowing precisely how long she has until the finish line, and timing her pass for just the right moment.
Or in this case, using precious seconds to make sure there will BE the right moment. Follow the wiring, see where it leads. Thirteen seconds. Whatever she can see spread out before her, whatever kind of jury-rigged mess of loops and wires, probably half of them will be spurious lines that go nowhere. It's the Joker. Nine seconds. Hot lines. Hot lines need continual power, and switches… Six. There. Five. Time to move.
The blade flicks out once more, severing a thicker, heavier wire. No need to be choosy about which one goes to the radio, just cut the master power. Like severing the battery from a car, good luck doing /anything/ without electricity.
pleasedontblowuppleasedontblowuppleasedontblowuppleasedontblowup
*
Sensation turns her head as something on the dash catches her attention. Crap. "We have a 20 second count down here!" She shouts into the comms. Now she is hucking people out with steroid pumped ease. They are high after all. "Get clear, gassing them all!" She yells and waits only a few seconds before hitting the main gas release. As soon as she touches the cloud she changes it. But she is going to cut it close to change gas and get clear of the possible boom. "GO!" She shouts at Rusalka as she leaps away in those last five seconds. Cannabis doesn't go boom, not like oxygen. Suddenly Sensation is really glad she made the switch.
*
Once it's clear the bus is dealt with (relatively) Batman starts to bring the Batmobile over to it, giving the cameras and sensors within a good look.
The bus and the ice cream trucks situation are noted via the holomap of the area his cameras keep up to date… then bullets are absorbed or bounced off the Batmobile armor. Batman presses a few button then, "These thugs are using gas masks, do *not* assume that gassing them works. They still need to be dealt with manually."
Then, finally, Batman presses a button, and the machine-gun turret built into the left front of the Batmobile pops out, and starts to precision shoot the goons wildly firing with rubber rounds. Computer locked on, Batman himself finally launches out of the Batmobile, and using his forearm launcher to get himself over to the bus within seconds. The black and red suited Batman looks almost like a blur with how fast he does it… and he promptly checks the inside for bombs while the Batmobile non-lethally puts all the thugs it can precision shoot to sleep. Hopefully, Batman can just toss a freeze bomb at any explosives and shut it off hard and fast, with the design.
*
Jessica Jones is sadly not much help. First, because she's high. In two senses of the word. Second cause she has to make her way back from her brief stint as a Super Sanitation Engineer. She flies over the ice cream truck, looking for ways to help. Breathes in a big lungful of cannibis without meaning to. Oh, bomb? She's looking over her shoulder as she flies right into a building, bounces like a confused bird.
She lands in a big snow drift, leaving a Jessica-shaped hole.
"I'm okay!" She calls, to nobody in particular, forgetting there's, you know, this 20-second countdown that might be occupying their attention.
"I'm oooooooooooooooooookay."
*
It's smelling… super like the back of an ice cream truck back here, in fact. As a kid, Sharon had once asked her parents why the back of the ice cream truck smelled like they were making sausages, and did they have sausage vans? And some teenagers might have gotten into trouble, all because of an accidental seven year old snitch.
When she sees the timer, too, Agent 13 repeats Sally's report: "Twenty second timer on the ice cream truck, GET CLEAR!" And she's sprinting back to the hostages, whipping out a knife to cut their leg bonds at least so they can run. Hopefully whatever Rusalka is doing up there is going to stop the timer. Hopefully she can get the hostages away in time.
The ones that aren't already gone are staggering off when Jessica bounces off the nearest building and lands in a drift of snow. Sharon's shoulders slump for an instant but she sprints toward the woman, reaching down to grab her by the back of her jacket and drag her as far away from that ice cream truck as possible.
*
She's clear- at least for a moment. Merrow's hands summon up as much water as they can pull from the winter air, though already a little exhausted it's harder than it would normally be. Weapons fire starts, and her first instinct is to sweep her arm upward to create an upward swell of churning water; it's not enough to stop the bullets but it might be enough force to buffet the rounds and send them off-course.
Of course, a few wild shots catch her on the edges, her shoulder jerking back as the SHIELD-issue protective equipment takes the brunt of it and her scales beyond that. Rather than falling fully back, she compliments the Batmobile's weapons fire by thrusting out her hand, sending a few high-pressure jets of water up and out from her hands to pick off a few herself.
Falling back behind the cover of a parked car, Sloane huffs and puffs, hand clamping down over her shoulder. It doesn't hurt- or at least it doesn't hurt as much as it should, what with all the adrenaline.
"We're getting the second bus handled, what's going on over there?!"
*
The countdown continues as Sally tries to figure it out, Batman and Merrow combine forces to keep those wildly firing from the bus contained even as those in the other bus start to wake up, reaching for weapons.
The countdown clicks to zero and…
…power goes no where. The music cuts off. The ice on the knocked over bus causes the explosions to fail. The explosives and gas on the ripped open bus are already away…
Though as Sally breathes a sigh of relief the glove box of the car pops open and a demented jack in the box pops out.
"That's cheating! That's cheating! That's cheating!"
…annnnd…yes. The ice cream truck explodes.
Not as /big/ an explosion mind you, but Sally might be doubly glad for that suit.
The goons in the ripped bus shout with glee and one raises a weapon to aim for Agent 13 and Sensation and the hostages…
And there is a sudden cough of noise befrore he pitches forwards. More of those puffs of noise, silenced weapons at full auto as a full SHIELD assault team charges the bus. ICERs on full auto as they spray the stun rounds into the remaining goons.
Apparently they took Batman's warning at face value.
As the last clown pitches forwards and the aftereffect of the ice cream trunk's explosion faades to darkness again all seems to be silence once more.
Beyond the crackling of the burning truck, and a few more broken pieces of glass falling from Stark Tower.
*
Sensation has pulled two of the slower hostages with her and behind a car across the street and as far up and away from the potential blast as she can. Putting her body between them and the spray of bullets as she can. Her suit is armored after all.
Jessica falls behind her with a whump of snowy compression. Sensation glances back to see her being pulled to safety. That turn to check, as the hostages tumbled and fell down without her assistance as spared bullet holes. Sure the suit is pretty bullet proof, but that doesn't mean they don't pack a wallop. And that clown stepping out and unloading on her doesn't help. She falls back with a grunt, atop her freed hostages. Of course being down and with cover the concussive force of the truck doesn't hurt or throw the already fallen trio down. Bonus? Sensation lays there stunned as the two beneath her giggle on their high, finding all this vastly amusing.
*
With the Joker goons dealt with and the explosives all disabled, Batman *finally* takes a breather. Reaction was the name of the game for the last few minutes, and now Batman comes out of the bus and stands, his wrist-comp typed into as the Batmobile suddenly shuts down… though the lights on the side indicate motion sensors are online.
With that dealt with, Batmans cape flutters behind him as he reaches out with his right forearm launcher, launching his grapnel at the building rooftop where Spoiler was pinged last. Once connected, Batman speeds off in a blur upwards.
*
It doesn't blow up.
Clunk goes the glove box. Sproing goes the jack in the box. "Eh? Wha-?" Cheating, it cries at her, but…if that means there's a trigger for a bomb failure…there's a trigger for- "Oh khuy tebe v zhopu!"
It blows up.
Yes, she's extremely glad for the suit - and doubly so that she'd managed to replace the arm in time. The blast isn't as big as it could have been, but it's still more than enough to send her flying onto the icy road outside of the vehicle, the bunnygirl-painted suit skidding to a stop in a curb.
Myuriy is kind enough to inform her of no significant injuries besides heavy contusions all over. "Yes, thank you. I had noticed." A glance at the data coming in from the others, and Sally finally radios in.
"I require a blanket, a pillow, and a vacation. Mr. Stark can be billed for it."
*
From the other side of the chaos, Sloane's voice kicks up over comms. "Mister Stark is going to have to be billed for a lot, I think. Are you okay?"
Not long after the gunfire, the explosions, and the eventual 'everything is settling down,' Sloane finds herself getting roped into the worst of the grunt work; cuffing members of the gang and making sure they get loaded into vehicles to be driven to be booked.
The crisis adrenaline is starting to thin, too; the chill of the weather and the burn of injuries and a bit of swelling lurks in the back of her joints.
*
Sensation gets to her feet with a groan, a hand over her armored gut. Dents from the barrage of bullets are felt beneath questing hands. Then she sees something- no someone laying against the curb. The chick in the suit who didn't bail when she said too. "Are you okay?" The modulated voice asks and she leans down over Sally.
*
Once it's clear that Spoiler and Owen are not local anymore, Batman goes to the side of the rooftop, looking down towards Captain America. The man had not objected to Owen rescuing Spoiler, so he let's it go for now… simply taking his wrist-comp to check for her suit tracker. Seeing it moving, Batman launches his forearm grapnel again, descending down to ground level once more with a practiced ease, before the black and red armored man heads over to Sloane.
Those red eye lenses betray nothing of his face, though the look up and down does have the eyes glowing a bit more; sensors built into the suit for visual aid, almost certainly.
Cape fluttering in the wind, Batman gives her a nod, "You and yours do good work." Batman gives a glance over to Steve, then, the black material of his helm now visibly hardened armor… with the neck portion some sort of flexible mesh, "Someone show give him a wingsuit. Easier on the maintenance bills."
*
The rabbit-ears of the white and black suit fold back, followed by the visor. Sally blinks upwards, staring at Sensation's own suit. Sloane also chimes in, and she just nods. "Yes, yes. I am not sure - oh god - that I want to be. I think. Where are you?"
Wobbling to her feet, she looks around - SHIELD reinforcements have arrived, the gunfire has stopped, and only the ice cream truck is burning. She'll meander back to the building, collecting drones as she goes. Except, importantly, drone number 1. It's still tasked on finding just where that robot army had come from, which should not be hard following their path through the snow. Had it had any luck…?
*
Sensation offers the bunny girl an arm up, frowning behind her helmet at the pained noises, "Here, let me help," She says and reaches out to to boop her nose. Seriously. Of course the wonderful surge of pain relieves and anti inflammatory chemicals is sure to help. But Sensation doesn't stick around, but turns to hurry for the alley and her car. The sooner she leaves the sooner the better. But she wasn't planning to have to push through a couple SHIELD agents to get there. "Crap," She mutters to herself. She tries just moseying by like she belongs here. Last thing she wants or needs is attention!
*
She can't see Sensation from here, but she can catch the voice- and Sally's- over comms. "Over by the paperwork, as usual," Sloane replies in a dry tone. Ow. Everything's starting to hurt.
Though the junior agent on the scene and looking pretty rough, the Batman is speaking to /her/ rather than someone like Cap or Agent Carter, so it's a little weird. Still, she does her best to look professional- if rather tired- and give the caped crusader a bit of a faint, friendly grin and a small nod. "Thanks for the hand, too. I can't …" The young woman's hand lifts to gesture in the general direction of the crashed vehicle, "… you know, catch a bus."
Of course she's not attempting to come off jaded or blase about meeting him; there's a certain prestige in meeting certain members of the vigilante and superhero community, but one can't hold it against the SHIELD agent- she's going to totally have an argument or three with the medics before too long.
Sloane turns a bit, hand at her ear. "Hey, Sals, also wanted to ask- you got anything in that suit to make sure we're not gonna get jumped again?"
*
"The Batmobile is on standby mode and monitoring the area. If anything is coming in hot again, it'll alert me." Batman notifies Sloane, before he starts to walk casually over in Sensations direction. Yep, he's looking /right/ at her… and not saying a word as he strolls over. The cape even has time to flutter in the winds momentum, not his own, from the pace he's giving.
*
Four remaining drones deploy after Sloane asks. "Ah, yes…good idea. Oh my. Ah, I think I am going to need rest. That person who could change chemicals…I am better, for the moment, thanks to her. I am not sure how long this will last," Sally adds with a titter, "but I liiiike it. Drones. Yes. Warning will be given."
Right now, all she can do is drag herself over to the SHIELD command area. "I do suppose Agent Lord can get additional support now. Even Director Fury could not turn down such a request, after that. This city…" Very vulnerable, but that's what their job is.
"Myuriy, shut down for now. Disengage and stow." Armored segments unlock, fold back; thin plates shuffle into various configurations, and the hexagonally-reinforced soft skin underneath contracts. Practically stepping out of the suit as she walks, Sally gathers it up like a handbag…and then remembers just how damn cold it is.
"Tea. Blanket. Where." With that she'll find her best friend, and promptly slump over on her good side, snoring softly.
*
Sensation groans inwardly when she spies the Dark Knight approach. So she turns around to face him with her arms folded across her bruised gut. "How can I help you, Batman?" The helmets speaker says, voice distorted as usual.
*
"You did good work here, too. Oh, I know all about your history… but I didn't see any proof." Batman notes, before he looks to the high Jessica Jones, off in the distance, "Antics aside, this was a win." Batman looks back to her. "If you want to redeem your reputation, this is the way to do it." With that, Batman steps away, moving over to help get the goons into custody.
*
Sensation is still and because of the helmet Batman can't see the surprise on her face. Well that was certainly not what she expected. "I'm glad I could help," She says after a slight pause. 'I only hope the people who have Kendra consider what I did good enough,' She thinks to herself. The frown behind the helmet is fierce. But Batman reminded her of something. She walks over to the unconscious Jessica being treated. "She has fentanyl and military steroids in her system, make sure the doctors know," She tells the medics. They eye her but nod and Sensation walks away.
*