It's A Drag

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oracle misfit the_cavalry dragnet fox _2015 _January

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January 01, 2015:

Dragnet and Kane meet some interesting spectres out on the streets of Gotham.

Gotham

Seething pit of crime and corruption

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions:

Mood Music: None.


Fade In…

There are Bats popping up everywhere these days. Kane ran into yet another one of the Bats chasing a possessed mobster. Another female Bat? Only different from the one who fistbumped him. This one tried to punch him. At present, the Fox is astride a glowy, ghostly elk, headed at a walk down a deserted Chelsea street. He's just keeping an eye out right now. Nothing much happening though he's getting that 'things are spooky around here' vibe which is… fun…

***

Misfit is watching Kane from a rooftop with het binoculars. Her Bat-M binoculars, she painted the Bat-M logo on them with craft paint herself mind you, with just a smidge of glitter in the bat-blue swoops. "Roger command base, I've spotted Foxman with his Ghost Elk." there is a brief pause "Do you think Santa has Ghost Reindeer or real Reindeer command?"

Not that Misfit was hunting the Fox, no she is out hunting crime but when it has been a slow night, one does what one can to make your own fun even if not everyone is bound to agree.

***

In the Clocktower, Oracle sighs as Misfits communication is received. "Hold on May." and taps her comms unit to Misfits channel "Misfit, we're going to have to talk about this code stuff… but acknowledged. I think Santa has real Reindeer for what it's worth." Watching the video feeds where Misfits avatar appears, the redhead relaxes back in her chair, and taps the comms unit again. She'd been speaking to Agent May following up on the HYDRA trailer they'd intercepted sometime earlier "Sorry about that May, the druid's been spotted again. Misfits tailing him but she's so young and her trainings not complete. All the Bats are engaged and I had her on patrol. Fancy riding shotgun with a youngster?"

***

More bats ironically means more time in the suit than less. Why? Because every time he's picked up a job for the past few months it has without fail proven to be a den of scum and villainy that has been infiltrated, busted up, or otherwise demolished by Bats, SHIELD agents, or the occasional honest (or more probable) dishonest Gotham cop covering his ass. Which means a lot less income…which means that Dragnet has been forced to scrounge, and whether its for scrap, repurposed electronics, or a half-eaten hot dog the AIDOS is still a fail safe way to get in and out of a situation. Its one of the rare moments where the helmet is retracted over his mouth, the stealth armored hero savoring his section of a beef frank with extra relish, mustard, and onions. For sanitations sake (And I know you all worry about this), he has cut off any portion that has had contact with anyone else's mouth.

At least he's not sleeping in a dumpster, this time opting for sitting on a rooftop not so far from Kane that he could not be perceived if he were to look up. Drag, so engrossed in his hot dog, thus does not notice the ghost elk, Santa Druid, or the fact that the AIDOS camouflage system has shifted into passive mode, and thus little bits patches of blue circuit wiring can be seen against the backdrop of black armor plating, giving the sort of visual one gets when one drives past those who in their Judaic pride hang blue Christmas lights instead of red and green. No one takes their Christmas lights down in Gotham until February anyway, right?

***

Melinda May is, thankfully, close by. After returning Barton and the quinjet to the Triskelion, she took a motorcycle from the motorpool (after checking it for trackers), and was pulling up at a traffic light a few miles away. "You're going to owe me, Oracle." She's only mostly joking. "Give me coordinates."

***

Kane hasn't seen Misfit. But he 'has' seen Dragnet. The mix of hobo and powered armor makes him stare. And this is a man who rides ghostly elk and fights werewolves in his spare time. "Oh don't tell me that's another Bat." He mutters. Oracle may well hear him over that borrowed communicator. "They need to decide if they like me or not. Black haired Batgirl gives me a compliment but red head Batgirl tries to kick my ass after I exorcise a mobster…" With a crossbow bolt, it must be said.

"Do you people have nothing better to do?" He calls up to Dragnet.

***

Misfit hasn't met Batwoman yet, she likely will be beside herself when she dies and have a bit of a tantrum. She will also likely be unhappy as well if she were to ever learn about the way this potentially mega awesome teamup has been proposed to May.

She shifts when Kane yells and for a moment thinks she may be yelling at her, but no, not her. Misfit scans around slowly there and her gaze settles on the strange blue wiring and black armor blating "What the holy hecks is that Oracle?" she squints through her binoculars and adjusts focus "Think I should bounce down and save Foxman?"

***

"I know May, with this one I probably will probably owe you." Oracle smiles at Mays comment "Going to conference you two in". Well, not quite yet because Misfits question comes in at the same time as the video of the christmas light display "Bounce down, but wait. I'm sending backup your way, Misfit." Kanes commentary gets a smirk as the redhead taps her comms unit again "Maybe Fox, if you spoke with me I could make this easier for you. There is no redheaded Batgirl that I know of" there was, but he's now talking to her "I've got people in the area, conferencing you all." Finally, she conferences the three "May, Misfit, Fox… you're all on together. May, try not to punch him this time, please. Misfit, I need a better visual on whatever that is so I can find out more for you."

***

Dragnet doesn't hear him, though the suit does. More accurate to say that while he was not paying attention, the suit has been feeding sensory data and has put fox masquerade mask wearing elk riders in the category of 'things that probably should not be' and thus at least a marginal threat. The helmet snaps down, though he cannot engage full stealth for at least thirty five more minutes. His initial response is an incredulous tilt to the head. Thats usually his line. Nonetheless, despite the more unsavorily pragmatic instincts of the suit's core programming, his descent from the roof down to ground level sees only the arming of AIDOS's weapon systems, but no discharge. "What do you mean /you people/. Can't even have a decent meal in this city without an interrogation." He pauses, the suits sensory suite feeding him sensory data across every spectrum. "Look. You want this street? You can have it. I don't like sleeping in Chelsea. Too close to the Hook for my liking anyway." His feet shifting, studying the druid but keeping an eye everywhere else as well. Stepbrother Christmas is an unknown factor: he could have friends around. The suit produces just a tad more light as it shifts from camouflage to sentry functions, but it would still take someone coming rather close to seee more than a backdrop of dark and bright blue against black.

As a plus, the helmet and voice change do a wonderful job of coating his slightly nervous tones in something a lot more gritty and gotham apropo.

***

"On my way." If Misfit was hoping for some sort of chatty cathy to join the party line, she's about to be sorely disappointed. She guns the engine of the motorcycle she's riding — she normally would advise strongly against motorcycles in wintry weather, but she was in a hurry, and didn't have passengers to worry about — and accelerates through the streets, headed toward where Oracle informed her the others are. And yes, if that Fox-masked person pulls the kind of crap again that he did that other time, she WILL punch him again.

***

"There is too a red head Batgirl. I saw her last night. Batarangs. Full armor. Pretty good in a fistfight. Completely unable to listen to me when I said the man I shot had already been dead for a month…" The Fox mutters into the communicator loud enough for Dragnet and Misfit to hear him as he walks his elk in a circle around the Iron Vagrant. "So you're telling me you weren't up there to keep an eye on me then?" He asks Dragnet. "That you don't answer to the very polite, very mysterious voice in coming out of the communicator on my vest? No, I don't want this street I'm just making sure nothing's haunted here." Oh my god he's serious.

***

Okay Misfit totally hears that "There had not be a redhaired batgirl or there will be vengeeeeeance. Hss." yes she just hssssed on the comm, you got to get into the mood for these things. "Also I was keeping the eye on you Foxman… Oracle he is right up in Fox's face I'm going to pop down for better getting the drop on him range." she bounces disappearing from her high up perch on that building yonder in a flash of pink and purple smoke >pinkurple> and appears still quite a ways up but on that specific street above them both on a fire escape. "Oh wow.. is this street haunted?" she is talking softly to her own comm to not blow her cover now, she peers down at the two of them looking for ghosts "I mean besides by your elk?"

***

Cutting off an escape route of a lifelong coward is probably not wise. "Stay in front where I can see you, or it won't matter." He says in that grating bass tone he has chosen for the night. He has conscious override _now_, but if he keeps lackadaisically cutting off Dragnet's retreat, the suit may just make the judgement for both of them. Arms pointed downwards, gas grenades primed. His stance suggests movement, but it seems uncertain whether its fight or flight the Fox is inspiring. For now though, he seems like he isn't going to make a move. "Honestly I have no idea who you are. Isn't your sort of thing down the highway a ways?" Right, because everyone knows the ghost elk is native to the streets and backways of New York or Metropolis. He grits his teeth a little, eyes narrowing behind that faceless mask.

This was the sort of thing he went out of his way to avoid, particularly because the OS is coming up with very creative ways to suggest that it is his duty to dispose of the aberration and of his assassinly duties in its silent, ethereal manner. Which would make perfect sense if he were an assassin and not a sneak thief who grew a cancerous consciencelike growth. "Nope, no voices here." He doesn't say anything about the haunted part though…its a fine line when your software seems suspiciously more Ghost in the Shelll than Siri.

***

"Misfit," May practically barks over the comms. "Cut the chatter." Yeah, she's SURE not trying to win any friends this time around. The motorcycle's engine announces her arrival before she pulls to a stop a reasonable distance from the glowing ghost-elk, the Tron-esque suit, and the pinkpurple smoke. Attired in her usual tac gear black-on-black with a black leather coat overtop in deference to the winter temperatures, the black motorcycle helmet likely makes her look even more like part of Gotham's Bat infestation.

The bike parked, May pulls off the helmet and walks toward where the confrontation looks like it's about to begin. "Fox, I need you to STOP circling. Pick a stance, and stay there." She can read body language well enough, and that blue-lined black suit is almost projecting 'I am feeling threatened'.

***

The Fox does stop circling. Partly because May asked him to and partly because he just heard Misfit over the communicator… and partly because he just glanced up as he was circling and saw three figures descending in a slow spiral like hawks or vultures. Except these things aren't birds. They're large, skeletal figures covered in tattered robes with scythes in their hands.

"Hrm…" The druid pulls out a crystal and looks at them as they silently, slowly float down. "No. No. Yes." Well that's disturbing. On two levels. Two of thsoe aren't ghosts or spirits… and one is.

Simultaneously, Orcale's board lights up like a Christmas tree. Someone just activated some really advanced tech in the area.

***

Misfit frowns brow furrowing there as she gets barked at. What did she ever do to this lady added to the party comm she hasn't even heard of named May. She is about to sass most likely when Kane is looking up at her and pulling out crystals and all. "Fox?" she chimes over the comm.

Then the young woman tilts her head and looks up above her "Oh holy craps .. I am way way to young to be visited by the grim reaper…" she teleports off the fire scape <pinkurple> and ends up standing behind Kane on the street staring up at the .. things descending.

***

Mays bark about chatter has Oracle smiling again as she watches the scene from the security cameras and Misfits communicator. "I'll speak to you about the redheaded Batgirl later Fox." /This/ redheads boards light up just as she starts to settle and listen to what transpires. Security cameras rarely look up but there are a few conveniently placed on fire exits on the buildings around. Oracle sees what Kanes looking at, just doesn't quite understand what they are. "You'd better explain Fox."

Using the visuals Oracles managed to capture of Dragnet, she starts a search on her databases. She wants to know more before any one of her team speaks with him.

***

Information on Dragnet is, surprise surprise, sparse. Speculations by both HYDRA and SHIELD about a next generation stealth technology that seems to marry methods of masking light, sound, heat, and power usage. A CIA interrogation of an 'unaffiliated terrorist' who spoke of being sheathed in armor in which 'forebears and ancient martyrs' spoke to him, dismissed as rambling but found dead hours later. Combat reports in former Soviet Republics of tank carcasses with no logical point of destruction. They are the stuff of X-Files and paranoid delusions in the intelligence communities, but they are there, suggesting some manner of common origin for the armor captured in visual.

If the schematics paint a grim picture, the actual behavior of the only suit that seems to exhibit these characters seems to be remarkably different, if only for the sheer duality of its actions. The MO seems to be the apprehension of street level hoods and the infiltration and destruction of noted criminal enterprises (though with no reported casualties). But HYDRA and Advanced Idea Mechanics After Action Reports also suggest tangling with a similar adversary. In summary, street level crime on the average sprinkled with occasional high level terrorist and supervillain oppositions, followed by periods of submersion before a return to street level crime prevention.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Dragnet doesn't know he is being so thoroughly Googled. What he does see is the carrion birds with their dreaded tools of the harvest, and the 'feeling threatened' escalates to 'definitely threatened'. "I'm no expert, but…I think that crosses out of the realm of haunted and into something entirely more corporeal, right?" There is a slight whirr of hydraulics as a shoulder mounted cannon is withdrawn and slides along the shoulder of the armored figure, the suit already calculating firing solutions. "The uh…Bat doesn't care if we kill these, right?" He asks, altogether concerned, though it doesn't stop him from lining up the shot. "Uh…any idea what this is? I mean, you did talk about spooks and all."

***

Melinda May looks up at the approaching… wraiths? What the heck are THESE things now? Reason #98 for hating Gotham: Just when you think this town isn't screwed up enough, here come FLYING undead. This is SO outside of her pay grade, but all she can do is try to find a way to help take those things down. After all, May is from a different school than Oracle. Incapacitate now, ask questions later.

***

Kane looks up. "Two of them aren't real. One of them is. And it's here to Reap… It'll be vulnerable to physical harm being in the physical realm… its jut going to need a lot off it." There's a flicker and suddenly the three of them switch position. "Aw for the love of… someone find out whose making the fake ones and shut it down!" The Fox swings off his elk and begins to back slowly, taking Misfit with him as the specters come down to ground level and float toward Drag, Kane and Misfit… and… "Agent? Wait, are you like Tac-Bat or something? I swear, there isn't a Batman, is there. You're all women!"

***

Misfit laughs, though it is a bit of a nervous laugh because well the Grim Reaper and all that. "Man Batman and Nightwing would be pissssed oh and Robin." she then fishes out two of the batarangs and hurls them hard at the specters, well two of them at least. The Atlantean Mystic Coral winging hard at them. "So wait.. the real one isnt making the illusions?"

***

"No it's not. There's some pretty powerful tech involved here, I'm tracing it back. I can't jam the signal just yet." As Oracle speaks the searches on Dragnet complete. "The gentleman with you is known as Dragnet, he would appear to be on our side at least." Kanes comments about the Bats elicits a wry a smile from the redhead but she makes no comment.

***

Physical realm. Which means that he can actually do something? Its a strange feeling, it feels nice in a sort of way, but its simultaneously knocking on every self preservation instinct Dragnet has. Still, if its a lot of damage they want, Dragnet has the tool. "You may want to take a few steps back." Not that he's confident one shot will do it, but because meat is probably squishier than the AIDOS's armor, and even he doesn't like standing too close. He doesn't even look at Misfit, though there is a telltale twitch as she starts ticking off vigilantes who tend to make things like him their business. He just wanted a damn hot dog!

Fox might sense a spectral whisper, a….muted manifestation. Dragnet is not a ghost…but perhaps…wrapped in one? Also, a ghost which behaves more like a computer program than anything else. The cannon shifts a bit from one and then the other, before firing. All the science of high explosives and tungsten penetrators aside, analysis of military hardware databases on Oracle's part would reveal that few if any modern weaponry incorporates these features. Anything that penetrates armor /and/ explodes tends to be much larger and doesn't have quite the same kick as the round his accelerator fires. Even if it doesn't hit, the three should fall neatly within the explosive radius. Something should sort of be damaged is the hope. "If it makes you feel better, I'm not a woman?"

***

Kane pulls his crossbow out and loads, but then they shift again, still advancing. It's like a shell game. He raises the bow, takes aim and lets fly but they shift again. "Okay. This isn't good." He mutters. "Well yes, that he-" He's cut off by the sudden rapport and detonation of the mass driver which throws debris and garbage everywhere. And sends the three 'spirits' scrambling for higher ground.

Oracle has a fix now on some really, really good tech. It's not far either. It's in an apartment overlooking the street.

"Someone needs to get rid of these illusions or I won't be able to send this thing back."

***

The traces finally complete and Oracle identifies the apartment. Hacking into the city grid, it's not hard to kill the power there but before she does…. "Misfit, Apartment 3B. Building on your left, 3 storeys up, 2 window from the end nearest you. I'm going to kill the power, which will kill the tech. But lets see if we can find out who's behind this." The redhead doesn't wait and turns the apartments power off, expecting Misfit knows exactly what to do.

***

Misfit calls her BataRangs back .. which they actually animate and fly back into her hands, she then bounces on cue >pinkurple> into the dark apartment to deal with the great unknown and whoever is causing the ulussions and may have caused this whole mess. Lets hope she can deal.

***

For a Reaper, one would assume less of a fear of conventional weaponry. But yeah, physical realms and all that. Which means that he keeps the cannon well and pointed towards the phantasms and whichever one is real. Apparently they keep their heads down with it directed business end towards them, so he sticks to that. There is a limit to the number of rounds he has on hand, and they aren't exactly quick to manufacture…"What do you think. Once we kill the dupes we can take it? Or do we need to call in something with more kick?" Not that he has any ideas, but best to start brainstorming earlier.

***

"I hope so?" The Fox isn't inspiring confidence but death spirit manifestations are rare and this one's clever. And he hasn't told Dragnet, yet, but he's fairly sure now. It's coming after him. There's something in that suit of his… and this thing wants to absorb, eat, whatever.

***

Misfit's Batarangs, when they return to her hand are glowing with… well, Dark Vengeance. The atlantean coral, already sensitive to magic, has absorbed some of the energy from the Reaper outside. Facing her is… possibly the most ridiculous man ever. He's got a green suit, a purple cape and a fishbowl on his head. And he seems rather shocked. "WHO DARES DISTURB MYSTERIO?" Oracle may be able to dig something up on that name..

"Hey Iron Vagrant it doesn't like those explosions… think you can slow it down one more time?"

***

Misfit cocks her head "Dude.. serious bruh?" too much call of duty in this teen crime fighter's life right now. She hurls both death-o-rangs at Mysterio without much though to the glowing vengeance on them. "DAARK VenGeance!" and then teleports >pinkurple> behind him to follow it up with a kick to his fishbowl, a vicious spin kick really, at head height, since that is where she teleported to you know. Then she >pinkurples> to the front, snags her batarangs back, and knees him in the nuts. "Hsss"

***

Through Misfits video feed, Oracle is able to make (barely) what the details of 'Mysterio' and starts yet more traces. Wincing when she realises where the young woman has placed her knee but remains silent as the fight progresses.

***

Dragnet shakes his head. "As your chest lapel pointed out, its Dragnet." Though he seems rather disenchanted with that nickname as well. The mass accelerator reloads and fires again, dischariging the round with absurd prejudice. Hopefully its enough, Gotham's not supposed to have anything that can stand up to those rounds, which is why he usually keeps it firmly in the 'off' and 'are you fecking crazy letting that go off here' category. But…its a Reaper…thing. And it probably is going to be more of a pain in the ass than anything else until its disposed of. He isn't aware of why the thing is pursuing him specifically…the armor itself however seems to give zero expletives as it discharges a third explosive round just for punctuation.

***

The blast does the trick. The concussion wave disrupts the spirits again right as Misfit's batarangs discharnge a jolt of mystic energy into Mysterio. The fish-bowl headed villian collapses like a destrung puppet as Misfit hits him again… and again… and again…

Out on the street Kane grins as the blast clears and there's only one Reaper left. The real one. He lets fly with another salt tipped bolt and this time it lodges firmly in the hood of the oncoming death spirit. There's an unearthly screech and the thing starts to dissolve. In moments there's nothing left but a small chip of bone.

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