[IC] Gotham Knights - City On Fire

[Omega Man]

Batman and his allies rescued Batgirl from the clutches of Bane. After it was decided the dead Robins couldn't be saved, Slade Wilson revealed himself to be his body-jumping son Jericho and offered to help Batman save one of the Robins. When taking on Bane, Jericho agreed to help the League of Assassins in rescuing Nyssa Al Ghul who was also being held against her will like Batgirl and Deathstroke's daughter. However, Nyssa was dead when they arrived on the scene. Deathstroke was transported across the country with a dead goon of Bane's to make it look like he'd blacked out during a mission in Coast City. However the League of Assassins will be looking for him, despite him not knowing where he had been the last two months.

Jericho, now in the body of Richard Grayson and still using the Skeleton Jack alias, helps others defend Gotham while Bruce is away [likely looking for a way to save the boys]. Batman put Batwoman in command after she was such a help rescuing Barbara Gordon. He also gave the would be vigilante group an HQ of their own hidden in plain sight in Historic Gotham.

Can the team save Gotham when a group of criminals using Firefly tech decide to burn the city to the ground? What motivates the new Fireflies and why are they targeting specific buildings across town? Will Batman have any allies still standing when he returns from his trip over seas?

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Rules:

1.) No back-to-back posting.

2.) PAY ATTENTION TO DETAIL AND SET-UPS!!

3.) Make sense. If we can't make heads or tails of your posts they're likely to get skipped over.

4.) Get permission before using another player's character in your posts if it involves changing the scene or making actions. Everybody will take beatings in this game in battle however, so don't get pissed if you get punched or blasted into a wall by the bad guys! Namely me controlling the badguys...

5.) Problems with the game or players should be sent directly to me through PM's. I don't want a bunch of bickering in the OOC.

6.) Abandoned characters will be used as NPC's or killed off within the context of the story.

7.) “I was waiting for [insert player/character] to make a move” is not how this game is played.

8.) There is no rule #8.

9.) My word is law.

10.) Obey the law.

11.) In the event that I'm offline for any period of time, the Co-GM [none atm] will take control and HIS/HER word will then be law.

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Current Roster

@Member 00492 Skeleton Jack
@Metronome Wraith
@Burning Kitty Guardian
@unknown100 Batwoman
@Kazemitsu Kaze
@vancexentan Damocles

_____________________________Wrath of Bane________________________________

It was unlike any other night in Gotham City. It had been four days since Bane murdered the Robins. At least twenty-four hours since the behemoth captured Batgirl. At Batman's request, Batwoman and Batwing gathered most of the group. Some required payment. One in particular came to Batman himself. Jack liked to keep a low profile, but somehow he let on that he knew something was up and offered to aid Batman. Clearly Skeleton Jack had an agenda of his own, but what that agenda was Batman didn't have the time to think about. In their meeting on the rooftops of Gotham weeks earlier, Batman picked up specific moves tied to the training of a League of Assassins member. Jack, like the others, was instructed to meet at an abandoned warehouse purchased by Wayne Industries some three years prior.

"C'mon Batman... make your move." Jack thought as Batman explained the situation.

"Half of you will join Batwoman in a search and rescue mission. That psycho has got Batgirl somewhere in the city, we just need to find out where. Take down any of Bane's goons or anyone pushing that Venom drug, get whatever info you can out of them. The rest of you will join Batwing in combing Gotham for any other Venom junkies or dealers that may know of Bane's location. Keep your eyes open for a hunting knife should you come into contact with Bane. It is vital that we retrieve this blade as well...." Batman said pausing for a moment.

"... understand that we may have to take Bane down. For good. It's why I didn't just call the Justice League."

"Its about time you grew a pair, Bats." Jack taunted as the rest looked on.

"If anybody sees Jack breaking more than just fingers, hands, and arms... take HIM down. I'm not giving you a license to break the backs of petty criminals... JUST Bane." Batman continued.

"One of these days, Bats, we'll see who the better man is. If I had a sword or a gun I'd take down half these amateurs right now. I just have to find Bane and where he's keeping the girls..." Jack thought, not even bothering to try and look scarier to the gathered bunch.

Elsewhere...

Bane walks down a hallway with several rooms. Cells rather, for a few prisoners of his. One is of course Batgirl, the other two females? One had light blond hair, almost white... the other a brunette with a Mediterranean look to her. One was clearly older than the other two.

"When the League finds out about this.... Batman won't know which way to turn... HA HA HAHAAA HA!" Bane laughed looking at the three females without his mask on.

~KL~

[Skinner35]

"Question." Nuke said as he raised his hand. "Who is on which team?" He said, looking at Batman, then surveying the rest for the rag-tag group. He got his paycheck and he seriously didn't like Bane, so he was willing to go and fight Bane immediately, but Batman wouldn't let that happen. He also really didn't want to help track one of Bat's friends, it's not what he arrived for.

[Omega Man]

"Jack, Nuke, Bolt, and Kaze... you're with Batwing. The rest of you are helping Batwoman with the search and rescue. Any other questions?" Batman asked looking around.

Nothing was said, the room went silent.

"Good. Now get out there. We don't know if Batgirl is dead or alive, we've wasted enough time." Batman said coldly.

~KL~

[Unknown100]

24 hours ago…

You’ve chosen these kinds of people for a reason, haven’t you? It’s not just the diversity of their skills and powers. No, you want someone who won’t question the morals of killing Bane.
Batwoman hadn’t said it out loud. Only thought it, back when she first read, what little info Batman had, on Skeleton Jack. That had also been when she first questioned what could have pushed the caped crusader to break his one rule.
Why Bane? And why now?
In Batman’s eyes, she had seen that same horror she herself experienced the first time she lost a teammate. Helplessness and desperation behind a facade of control.

“This will be unlike anything these guys have faced before," she told Batman. "Now, I bet these people can smash a lot of walls and talk a lot of shit. However, since this is about saving Batgirl, there can only be one pace … my pace.”

----------------------------------------------------------------

Present time…

In this moment Batwoman said nothing.
As the Dark Knight himself had briefed the two teams, she observed everyone’s reactions. Separating the lambs from the wolves. Judged each member in order to see: who she could trust, who she could turn her back to, and who had the characteristics to be the man for the job.
One thing was abundantly clear: This Jack guy would never be someone she’d turn her back to.

[Metronome]

It had been a busy week for Ka'van. His home, an old Victorian era mansion on the outskirts of town, was in the middle of getting renovated. The previous occupant wasn't too happy about this. When he had been house hunting a while back, a small blip about this mansion being haunted had caught his attention. Was that why the price was so low? The real estate lady told him that they couldn't keep people in there. Ka'van took a look around and decided that this would be his new home. If it wasn't haunted before, it surely was now.

It wasn't long before Edna made herself known. She started by knocking his favorite mug off the counter. Ka'van could feel her anger and grief over someone taking residence in her beautiful home. Ka'van decided to sit down and have a talk with the spirit. She could stay, but she had to realize that she had to deal with him now, no matter if she liked it or not. He had also told her that he planned to restore the place, but that he would stick as closely to the original as possible. The next day, the home's original blue prints mysteriously appeared, splayed across his kitchen floor.

Now Ka'van was dealing with the renovators coming in and making a mess. He oversaw their work in the daytime, and still tried to pull hero job at night.

"I've heard of you," One of the foremen said when they met, "You're one of those caped types aren't ya'? What are you supposed to be, some kind of alien?"

Ka'van blinked. "Yes. Can we...focus on the task at hand?"

About of week of this, and he'd grown tired. When he was approached by Batwoman earlier that night, he was enthusiastic about putting his mind on something other than his spooky old house. Apparently, something had happened at the Batcave, and the Dark Knight was ready to kill. Wasn't this the very same man who came after him when he had killed evil people? Ka'van had tried to explain then that it was pointless to try and reform people who had such darkness in them. He didn't understand the human way of keeping these types around. But whatever. Not his planet, he supposed.

He heard the Batman out on the rooftop, along with several other heroes. He'd seen some of them while on his patrols, but others were strangers to him. It was hard to focus on what was being said when he could feel Batman's raw anger pouring out. Rage, grief, anxiety. He'd never felt things like this from the stoic Knight before. Something very serious must have shaken him. Ka'van thought better of asking about it.

When they were dismissed, Ka'van, in his Wraith form, turned and lifted himself up with his telekinesis. He floated just above the surface of the roof, like a ghost with his cloak trailing weightlessly behind him. He flew out and over the city, keeping his eyes open for any suspicious activity. He wasn't too sure this operation was as well planned as Batman's things usually were. There didn't seem to be any cohesive plan here other than "go look for stuff". But, regardless, Ka'van was a sucker for a soul in need. He couldn't tell Batman no when he was clearly so desperate.

[vancexentan]

Well here he was. Albert could hardly understand what would drive the batman of all people to hire him. Damocles was his name in the underworld he was feared for his brutality, and his bloody streak of bodies he left behind. However all of his victims were scum of the earth. He disagreed with the dark knight, and his methods, on many things but he was still at the end of the day a man with a job to do. Bane had recently ruthlessly murdered Red Hood, Nightwing, and Robin. It was....cruel and unusual to say the least and one he didn't truly expect would come to pass. The Batman was normally hard to cross...but killing the side kicks? That was pure folly. It was that folly that lead him here. Among all of these various threads lead him here today. He said nothing, and expected nothing but his payment. He was a simple man who hated extravagance in all it's forms. Why go for something flashy when you can just pull the trigger, or break the man's arm? He had his hands in his pockets, not gripping his guns which rested in the holsters underneath his long coat, and walked over to Batwoman and looked at her then nodded. "I'll play by the rules Batwoman, at least as long as it doesn't get me killed. Where do we start? I'll send out a bug look for abnormalities in the systems in that sector. Shouldn't take too long for me to get camera feeds on for us as long they're not locked behind a system." Damocles said shrewdly as he breathed calmly through his pulled up face mask. It covered his upper mouth and blurred his words he usually used it to conceal his voice. With the number of other people around him he couldn't really afford to give any hints out about himself. Teammates one day could be tomorrow's losers.

[Burning Kitty]

Two days earlier, Thomas Thornburg was cruising along the streets when he got a call. "Go for Thornburg. Yes I can be in Gotham in time. Only a few loose ends here. Oh that is interesting, The Bats is willing to murder now. I'll be sure to watch my back then for the knife that will come from him or his hired guns." Thomas exited the car and planted several bugs while in his civilian clothes.

------------

On the rooftop in his armor, Guardian listened while scoping out his team mates. Not the first Suicide Squad he'd seen. He preferred working with Batwoman because she was ex-military. He went to his car which he parked on the roof. He pulled a tablet out, he dialed up a map with the government's latest intel on the drug trafficking in Gotham. He noticed an abandoned factory was somewhat in the center of all the Venom dealers arresting locations. "Commander if you don't object I have a possible lead on a supply storage." He switched out the contests of his aerosol sprayer to a highly flammable one. He planned on a little bonfire with the Venom drug as the the kindling.

[Kazemitsu]

Kaze lurked quietly in the darkest portion of the rooftop he could find. All the others could see was a hulking mass draped in a black ragged cloth that had a pair of glowing red eyes looking out. Each time the eyes drifted to one of the other members of the teams the pupils turned into slits, as if memorizing who was who. In reality he was locking scents onto appearances, the general builds of the people since all of them were masked in some fashion. Hell the only reason he was even out among the people was because he owed Batman a debt and he was going to pay it.

Batman finally said who was going with who, but he left out a player in this serious game of hide and seek. "What will you be doing, Batman?" He asked. It was startling how deep the giants voice was, like an earthquake in his chest. He was already up and moving towards Batwing, no point staying away from the others for when the team leader gave out the orders.

[Omega Man]

Skeleton Jack knew every one of the other people Batman chose for this dark crusade were gonna be watching him. It truly didn't matter. Finding him and watching him were two very different things. As a couple of the more heroic types began strategic planning to look for Batgirl, Batman leaped into the night sky with a grappling hook not even answering the monster in the dark corner's question. Jack flipped and bounced off of security ladders and the side of a neighboring building down to where he'd parked a black motorcycle. Nothing special. It COULD have been a little quieter. The masked man seemed to not really care. When he wanted to go stealth he would, for now... the punks needed to see him coming. He didn't bother to see where the armored Batwing went, or any of the others in his group. Jack didn't need anyone to tell him how to get information out of enemies. His first adrenaline rush of the night came in the form of a couple muscle bound idiots trying to sell Venom to some teenagers near a football field by one of the high schools. When they saw the man with the skull mask coming down the street like a bat out of hell they turned to run before a couple throwing knives pierced one of their legs.

The high school teens ran off with an adrenaline rush of their own, but Skeleton Jack didn't see an exchange made. He let them go to focus on the punk he'd hit with the blades.

"Where's your boss?" Jack asked pulling out a couple more blades from a compartment in his left gauntlet.

"I'm my own man now!" the pusher said slapping a couple Venom patches on his forearms and getting jacked.

The goon couldn't have been much older than twenty-one. Looked like a former athlete. With the drugs, he looked like a muscle bound professional wrestler. The parked cycle of Jack's might as well have been a piece of garbage because the goon threw it with one hand like it weighed nothing. Jack managed to dodge out of the way but not before the guy rushed him and speared him through a fence.

"All right Lil' Abner, I've had about enough of this ****!" Jack said picking himself up and throwing a three strike combo at the behemoth.

The brute grabbed Jack for something of a bear hug when the skeleton helmet came crashing into the nose of the goon with a headbutt. Jack pulled what looked like steel zip ties out of the pockets on his thighs and bound the guy's hands and feet. When he shook off the headbutt he was shocked to see himself zip tied to a length of chain coming off the tail end of the semi-smashed cycle.

"I'm gonna ask you one more time, junior. Where's. Your. Boss?" Jack asked already on the cycle.

"**** YOU!" the Venom junkie screamed.

Five minutes and about eight miles later down the highway...

"This punk didn't know anything after all. Damn shame those Venom patches wore off. Must not be the same as Bane's liquid formula. Of course he keeps the best product for himself..." Jack thought cutting the zip tie off the unconscious man's feet.

~KL~

[Unknown100]

Batwoman judged Albert's words to her. The masked man spoke with a certain self-assurance they would need tonight. Then another figure approached her.

"Commander, if you don't object I have a possible lead on a supply storage," Guardian said.

“Proceed,” she answered and was told about the abandoned factory. As the details were explained by him, her face changed to a mask of concern. Afterwards she turned and walked to the edge of the building, as if the fear of heights belonged in another world, far from her own. For a few moments, she did nothing but stare out at the city in all its beauty and violence.

Her hair and cape slowly danced in the wind and was just about the only things that differentiated her from a still image.

“Things might be more grim at the factory than anticipated,” Batwoman finally let everyone know. “1 weeks ago, Black Mask was put behind bars. The final nail in the coffin of his empire. Since then, every low-level scum, who ever worked for him, has been out of a job. But if you remove one piece of shit, then flies will simply flock to the next. Now, these particular flies have been gathering in larger and larger swarms while migrating south to Downtown Gotham City, which just so happens to harbor your abandoned factory.” She glanced at Guardian and then the rest. “Do you all understand what we are up against here? In light of this new information it all adds up: Bane is recruiting what’s left of Black Mask’s men, and if he succeeds he’s gonna have a small army. That, gentlemen, can… not… happen. So we will be there to end their party, destroy their supply, and in the confusion: take down whoever is in charge, so we can get the info we need. There’s no time to waste, yet let me say this: What makes Bane dangerous is not his strength, but how he uses it. He has no doubt anticipated Batman to retaliate after the kidnapping. He has no doubt planned for everything. The only miscalculation in his plan… are us.”

[Skinner35]

Nuke noted what Batman said, deciding not to argue with his employer. Then he listened to what Batwoman said. "So, we just go and take out what is left of them? I mean, that lowers what Bane can recruit without getting geys shipped from oversea's." He stated, looking at Batwoman. "Put him in a position where he has to rely on himself and not his men, then draw him out. With the firepower in this group, and the brains of the Bat's and the hacker, we should be able to psych him out and take him down, given that we cut his Venom supply before he juices himself up." He said, not knowing whether or not that was the favorable plan. He picked up his helmet and slid it on, which distorted his voice. "If I can get on his back, I can hit him hard enough to at least weaken him."

[Burning Kitty]

Guardian got in the Guardian Mobile. He truly hated the name, but that was official designation and his boss doesn't like nicknames. "I'll circle the building. My over watch can hack into any tech using the car's systems and get us an inside view and disable any alarms." He liked the red head assigned to be his over watch, their relationship is akin to Bond and Money Penny in the Brosnan Bond films.

Guardian zipped off to the factory. On the way to the factory on a proprietary communication system Guardian contacted his over watch. "OW any special instructions from the boss? Really she wants several samples. She also wants me to test it out while the GS is still active. I'll have to test out before the fight with Bane have to know what ill effects it may have before I go toe to toe with that luchadore. At the warehouse now." His over watch uses the car's systems to gain access to a security camera. Guardian puts the car into a standard flight path that encircles the building. He pulls the security feed on his windshield. He uses gestures to manipulate the feed. He switches from camera to camera counting the occupants. He counted about two dozen give or take a few. It switches to another camera this one overlooking the stockpile. He notices the shadow of his car passing over. "The fools have the drugs under the skylight." He switches to a more Batman friendly communication system. "Found the drugs the stockpile is under a skylight. About two dozen goons inside, none on Venom yet. When you see the bonfire you know I made my entrance join in if you like. Batgirl is definitely not here though. I'll make sure the leave the smartest looking one conscious for interrogation."

He parked the car on the roof, he jumps through the skylight, as he falls he sprays the drugs with his aerosol sprayer. Once on the ground he grabbed several Venom Patches and stored them in his suit. Using his shield he scrapped a steel support being creating sparks that ignited the drugs. He turned to the goons shooting at him. "Welcome to Burning Man." One of them rushed at him. He grabbed him and threw him into the drug fire. The guy caught on fire but also had about a dozen patches stuck to him. "Note to self, don't throw the goons into the extreme performance enhancing drugs." The goon still on fire jumped out of the fire and began blindly attacking anything in its way. Guardian used his grappling hook to pull himself out of arms reach of the goon. "Batwoman you know the Venom better, how much force would be required to take down a goon on a dozen patches? Also he is on fire, if that helps."

[Unknown100]

If Guardian could pick up her signal, he would probably have responded to her plea for him to wait for the team. Strategize, coordinate, make a solid plan. He would have sensed the concern breaking through the strength in her voice. He would have been told the Venom supply was not the top priority.

… since this is about saving Batgirl, there can only be one pace … my pace.
How foolish Batwoman's words to Batman sounded now. She had arrived too late. They all had.

Batwoman retracted her grappling hook in a motion that was a bit more aggressive than intended. With each step heavier than the previous one, she approached another edge on another roof and observed what was about to become a battleground.
The old factory was right there. Orange light spread like a forest fire and suddenly a more clear transmission came through to her. No interference or noise on the line besides the sound of flames.

"Batwoman, you know the Venom better. How much force would be required to take down a goon on a dozen patches? Also he is on fire, if that helps."
Oh, god, no … no, no!

The rest of the team had assembled behind her also. She knew that whatever doubts she had, had to be buried. There would be no second try. Now that she was close she made another attempt to make contact with Guardian. “Stay on the outside. Make the goon tire himself out. Target the joints and never get in a wrestling match.” She turned off the communication and turned to the rest of the team.

Maybe some of them had expected her to question Guardian’s decision. Unleash a verbal storm into the mic. But such things did not belong in active combat and time really was of the essence.

With determination back in her voice she addressed them:
“Listen to me, we can’t help Guardian. Batgirl has to be our priority, and we can’t pull any punches now. The second Bane learns exactly what has gone down here, is the second he will consider making Batgirl pay. Therefore, we will keep that steroid freak in the dark as long as possible. Damocles...”
After saying his name she was right in front of him. “Cut off all communication. Hack it, smash it, EMP it. Doesn’t matter. Make Bane’s men feel all alone in the world. Things will get ugly once you do it, so make sure to survive whatever they throw at you."
She addressed Klarion second. Almost casually and used a second to also stare into the eyes of the cat. “You’re on the newcomers: Black Mask’s men. They may be cowards out of their element, but cowards with nothing less than armor piercing bullets. Draw their fire, beat them, scatter them, turn them inside out. Give them a good scare, but allow them to leave. Once a few of them run the rest will follow. They will not be coming here again, and we can hunt them another day. If we play this right, it will draw out the big fish: Bane's lieutenant. I may just know who this man is already. And once he shows himself, I'll make my move and get him talking. We may just turn this thing around. Now go, and remember: Magic is the one thing Bane can never have, so don’t be shy."

With her final words the fire was more than just orange light. More than just the distant sound of flames over the voice chat.

[vancexentan]

"I question why it is necessary to bring me along if that one is capable of doing things like that." grumbled Albert as he pulled out his phone and looked at it going through the various programs on the device he quickly set up his own program to run. This program would sap, and jam all of the cell phone, and other mobile device communications that were not not high grade stuff. There was no need for this to get messier than it needed to be. More to the point though he suppose he needed to play his role of support somehow, or another. "Communications are down anyone in the area, civilian or not, will not be able to use cell phone, or other non land line based communication until we're done. Intuition dictates that there are likely groups of people stuck together. We need to pick out any singular individuals first Batwoman. It eliminates any sort of surprise elements that these people may have. I have done my part is there anything else that you want me to hack through? If you find me a computer with some files on it I may be able to make copies of them for Batman. Other than that the only remaining thing to do is search and destroy." Damocles said as he considered how big a risk Guardian was to this operation. Fire? Really? Well hopefully any of the other goons nearby would only think someone set some trash can on fire. If not surprise may have been hampered. 'Gotham's always been a shit show since these punks got into business. There's no saving this god forsaken city. There's only reducing the damage to it. Criminals flock to this city and will continue to do so as to avoid meta cities like Metropolis, or Coast City. Smart people would rather deal with the bat than the supermen of the world.' Albert thought to himself he wondered why Batwoman was even bothering trying to explain lower criminals' behaviors. Big fish attract the smaller parasites to cling to.

[Skinner35]

Well. Nuke's plan had note gone the way that he had hoped. So he removed his helmet and walked to the huge guy with more arms than normal. "So, not being an asshole. But what exactly are you?" He said, sitting on a box next to him, placing his helmet next to himself. He hoped that he would see some action soon, he was getting jumpy and wanted to see action. Preferably against Bane.

[Kazemitsu]

Kaze turned crimson eyes towards the flashily clad man that Batman had recruited. "An experiment." He replied while shifting a little. His sheer mass made it look like he had numerous arms thanks to his cloak, but he only had two arms, two legs, and a long webbed tail. All of which he kept hidden within the vast expanse of his clothing. "If you want to know more, ask Batman. I wasn't of sound mind when he found me or my files." He growled, his voice was almost painful to listen to thanks to the ridiculously low pitch. But his speech was clear and precise, no slurring or unintelligible words.

[Metronome]

Wraith didn't particularly want to stick around to hear what the other heroes had to say. He needed to get away from the strong, suppressed emotions coming from the Bat. It was just too much for him, being as tired as he already was. So he decided to start off his own search with a man who owed him a favor. This man knew just about everything that went on in the underbelly of this city.

Ka'van flew down to the parking lot of a rough looking bar. He shifted from his Wraith form, the cloak disappearing like smoke, and into his normal, every day appearance. Which, mind you, still drew eyes to him. Ka'van came in the door, a fluster of angst, anger, and drunken masculinity hitting him in the face. There was a biker gang present, drinking themselves silly and playing poker in the corner. A few young gentlemen who likely had several felonies to their names watched him like a hawk as he walked up to the bar. There, the bartender, a man with a few missing teeth and a facial scar from several stitches, turned to greet him.

"Hey! Alien guy. Didn't think I'd be seeing you so soon."

Ka'van gave a polite smile. "I could say the same. I need some information. Do you know anything about any Bane activity in town?" Ka'van kept his voice down, but the bartender, paranoid, shifted his eyes around the room.

"Why don't we go out back to talk about it, huh?" He said, stepping around the bar and opening the back door of the building. Ka'van agreed. The not-so-cleanly man limped outside to the trash containers and immediately lit up a cigarette. "So, Bane, huh? What're you doing hunting him down? I thought you only went after petty crooks."

"I do more on occasion."

"Well, good luck with that, kid. I did hear he was back in town. There was something going on at the old Rhymer building. You know where that is?"

"Roughly."

"Yeah, just go west on the north boulevard until it looks like a bomb went off. The bad side of town. You might wanna hold on tight to your wallet."

"I don't have one."

"Well, in any case. That's where I'd start if I wanted to get myself in some real deep shit. Good luck to ya'. And remember, you didn't hear it from me."

"Of course."

With that, the grimy bartender headed back inside. Ka'van looked up into the sky, then shifted back into his Wraith form to lift himself up into the air. The Rhymer building was a factory about twenty years ago, before it shut down. Now, it was just a skeleton resting against the skyline. It was, as the man had put it, in a bad side of town. Surely he'd find something there. Maybe he should call some backup, just in case...

"I'm heading to the old Rhymer factory. I may need some backup to search the place; it's rather large." Ka'van spoke into his communication device, hoping that someone would just meet him there. He doubted that whatever was happening there earlier was still going on.

[Skinner35]

"Finally, something to do." Nuke mumbled as he heard the radio and responded. "I'm on it. I'll be there in five." He said as he got on his nuclear yellow motorcycle and sped to the old factory, eventually parking in front of it and meeting up with Wraith. "So, what do we have hear? Venom storage?" He asked, looking at Wraith.

[Kazemitsu]

Tilting his head Kaze watched the gold and black clad person dart off to their bike. "Rude much." He stated dully, already not liking the situation. Batwing was taking a bit to make a plan and half of the team already vanished to do their own thing. Rolling his shoulders with a sigh he went towards the edge of the rooftop. He wouldn't be hard to find, his size made it virtually impossible to hide from those actively looking for him. With that he leaped the distance between buildings.

He started slow, jogging across the next rooftop before leaping again to the next. It didn't take him long to be running on all fours, leaping every few bounds to the next building. His nostrils were flaring, he knew the scent of Venom. It had helped give him the build he had along with numerous other chemicals. The pupils of his eyes dilated into barely visible slits as he looked at the streets down below between rooftop leaps.

Nothing out of the ordinary yet, just people walking and driving. The homeless huddling around their trashcan fires and the occasional mugging that didn't concern the bestial man. Batman had said find Bane and other Venom users, not ruin a muggers day, and that was what he'd do. Unfortunately he didn't have the intel or the technological know-how to track the criminals easier. He just had his body built for destruction and his animal senses.

Finally though he caught that acrid stench the drug had. Eyes and head snapping down mid-leap he saw a group of men loading up a boxtruck. One of them was impossibly hulked, a sure sign of the drugs usage. Stopping with the use of the claws on his feet he turned and peered over the edge. They hadn't looked up and they hadn't noticed him. Slowly he started climbing down the building, his claws sinking into the brick and mortar easily. Once the men looked from the truck to load up more crate Kaze dropped silently onto the top of the container portion.

As much fun as it would be to assault the group he decided to remain unseen. They could carry him to wherever this shipment of whatever was going. So he laid himself out, plastering himself flat to the top of the truck while making sure his cloak and tail were tucked in close. Now it was the waiting game.

[Omega Man]

Jack was on foot now, miles from his previous location. He noticed the smoke in the air, and where there's smoke there's fire. One of the heroes found a lab, or a storage dump. The skull faced hero looked on at the cockroaches scattering, more goons of Bane's and not juiced up like the pusher he'd dealt with earlier. His ear piece that is linked to police and emergency frequencies was acting up. That was likely one of the Bats trying to keep the big man in the dark. Jack leaped from one roof to another. He thought he had seen a shadow go by so now he was on edge. Was one of the other recruits actually tailing him? It was clearly time to separate the men from the boys so he sprinted at his top speed leaping and vaulting over rooftops. He glanced back over his left shoulder and when he turned to look ahead of him he was stopped in his tracks.

Elsewhere...

"Cave to Bat-One?" came over Batman's communicator in his mask.

"What's going on?" Batman responded swinging to a location and pulling out binoculars from his utility belt.

"One of your... acquaintances... has caused a bit of a bonfire, sir." Alfred said from the cave monitoring situations across the city.

"Emergency response ETA?" Batman asked looking through his eye-wear at a sewer cover in an alley about a block away.

"None. One of Batwoman's people shut down all communications in that sector." Alfred continued. "However... the League is in Gotham."

"WHAT?!?" Batman responded surprised putting his binoculars down.

Back on a rooftop somewhere in midtown...

"What's the League doing in Gotham?" Jack asked what revealed itself from the shadows as several well armed ninja assassins.

"The Demon's Head knows your true motives and asks that you also free his daughter from her captives." the main ninja spoke to Jack as it appeared more ninjas were in the shadows on the anti-hero's right side.

"Who are you talking about, boy?" Jack responded still in a bit of a battle stance.

"The daughter of the Demon's Head... Nyssa." he ninja spoke.

Elsewhere...

Batgirl could see the older girl across from her through the glass window on her cell door. She hadn't seen Nyssa up close recently to know who she was. She had always wore a hood and mask over her nose and mouth. In the cell directly beside Ms. Gordon was the third girl. Nyssa could have looked her way if she wanted, but she didn't know the girl and frankly didn't care about her or the beaten Batgirl directly across from her.

Back on the rooftops of the city...

The ninjas disappeared into the shadows once more and left the man in the skull mask to himself. He still felt as if somebody was watching him and glanced over his left shoulder, but now it felt different. Somebody who knew how to hide, even better than those League of Assassins ninjas. Skeleton Jack sprinted off once more leaping from building to building and nearing the lush green gardens of Robinson Park. After going from rooftops to trees in a mostly empty park in seconds there was no way somebody was still on Jack's tail. Jack managed to be in the right place at the right time as several junkies were buying the Venom patches from a couple guys already jacked on them in the park.

"Finally... a decent workout." Jack thought leaping from the trees at the crowd of drug addicts.

~KL~