metalogs | Aw shit, get your towels ready it's about to go down

Ask me anything here!

Edited 2022-07-14 02:53 (UTC)

[68,000 tons of explosives and explosive fertilizer are careening through the water at breakneck speed towards Chicago's Navy Pier. A full hold. An explosion that can still affect the city despite how far out on the water the ship is, especially since it can cause a small tsunami. Fortunately, figuring out what's going on means the warning they have will give them time to react they might not have had otherwise.]

[Mechanisms for the ship's steering and engines have been sabotaged to keep the boat going full speed towards the city. Booby traps on board will make getting on board difficult anyway, and could detonate the boat early, when the ideal situation is getting rid of the problem before it detonates at all.]

[But it can be stopped, if they work together.]

[ooc: Since this is one problem with one solution please keep all posts in a single thread.]

Edited 2022-07-14 02:56 (UTC)

[ Hibiki, quite frankly, wasn't waiting around now... she had a plan that was totally going to work and DEFINITELY not inspired by one of the many action movies she was made to watch back home at S.O.N.G.

Well, the inspiration behind her plan aside, she didn't know how much time she had... so she'll be acting now!! ]

HAAAAAAHHH...!!

[ There's not a lot of warning for anybody around the area as Hibiki stops just short of the water and jumps forward, thrusters firing off and propelling her forward at the maximum speed she can manage over the water... with the pistons on her legs firing off periodically to keep her above the water as she shoots toward the boat... singing the whole way.

Eventually, she starts to approach the boat, and once she's close enough... takes a deep breath and dives directly into the water.

By all means, this is where the plan becomes less of a good idea... as her song is immediately cut off due to the inability to sing underwater, and she can feel her gear's output immediately drop, but...! ]

I still have... THE SONG IN MY HEART!!

[ Her gauntlets shift and change shape, turning into a form of underwater propulsion that allows her to shoot through the water until she's directly below the boat. Her gauntlets morph even further, and then...

The entire boat is suddenly sent flying into the air as an enormous tornado bursts out of the surface of the water, carrying the entire ship with it.

It doesn't go up high enough, though... it is an entire ship, and there's only so much that Hibiki can do from underwater, but... ]

EVEN SO...!!

[ There's a flash of golden light as Hibiki, clad in her Amalgam Gear, bursts out of the water. ]

Can you feel the racing? (burnin’!)

Of my heart (burnin’!) of my soul (burnin’!)

Within this song…!

Somebody without any honor, in the way they fight, cannot protect life

(Live now, live now)

[ The thrusters on each giant fist fires up, propelling Hibiki into the air toward the ship until she collides with it, the fists opening up to grasp the bottom part of the ship, and... ]

Still I’ve not (blazin’!) taken hold (blazin’!)

Of the truth (blazin’!) answer me...!

Does the heart that beats within me, shine just like the sun

Where is the truth I had sought? WHEN CAN I HEAR MY SONG...!?

[ The fists detatch from Hibiki's gear, the thrusters firing up at maximum strength while Hibiki starts to fall back down to the water below... but she's done what she needed to do. The fists fly independantly and will start to push and carry the ship as far up as possible, and get it as high up as possible.

Oh, and Hibiki is falling towards the water... but she'll be fine. ]

[The boat practically goes up into the freakin' stratosphere.]

[Traps trigger, chemical reactions fizzle to life, and the two explosive devices on board go off. But the speed that the boat sails into the air is astronomically fast.]

[One second it's sailing towards the city and the Coast Guard flotilla heading towards it, trying to intercept if necessary, planning to be the last defense if the heroes fail. They might die out there on the water but if they can disarm or detonate it early, the city will suffer less damage.]

[Death is likely but this is what they signed up for.]

[But seeing the movement of the ship in the distance, two of the Guardsmen stop their work on the deck and stare out at the sky over the water.]

["What the French toast?" says one of them, trying to stick to her substitute cuss words, the one she learned to maintain proper Coast Guard bearing.]

[Another, much saltier and more experienced, farther away from boot camp, says "Fuuuuuuck" in a voice hushed with awe, her eyes wide as they trail upward, tracking the boat's rapid trajectory.]

T[The boat shoots up over the clouds and then explodes, a bright star over the water. The shockwave indents the water below but not so much that it causes a tsunami. It rips flags off poles, and rattles windows on Navy pier, cracking a few, but there's no more damage than that. The Coast Guard boats are setd slightly out of control by the current but none of them capsize. They quickly right themselves after.]

[Flaming, smoking debris rains out over the water but despite being hurled with considerable force, the explosion is high enough up that wind resistance slows the fragments down by the time they reach the waves. None of them reach the Coast Guard boats or the coastline, though Hibiki may need to get clear fast.]

[It turns out Navy Pier got some fireworks after all. Just not the ones the citizens of the city or the Joker expected.]

Edited 2022-07-25 01:51 (UTC)

[ Hibiki, frankly, is in the middle of a free-fall. That was tiring you know! She did part of this whole thing underwater! Could she take a quick rest? A quick rest right about now sounds nice— ]

BOOM!!

[ So the answer to that is a resounding no apparently. She yelps as the shockwave flings her even faster toward the water below, and for any normal person, a fall from this height at this speed at water would be fatal.

Fortunately, Hibiki is not a normal person... and the two fists responsible for carrying the ship into the air are largely unscathed, now rocketing back down towards Hibiki. They reach her just before she's about to hit the water, burst into golden light, and form a transparent glowing barrier around her right as she collides with the water.

Well, she's not clear, that's for sure... but with the reversion of her Amalgam to it's Coccoon stage, she's at the very least safe, as any debris simply hits the barrier and leaves Hibiki unscathed as she resurfaces and floats on the water.

Okay, now she can rest. ]

Haaaah...

[ She'll just... float here. Hopefully at some point after this the Coast Guard will come and fish her out of the water. Either that or she'll just have to head back on her own once she's caught her breath. ]

Ah... ahaha...! Hahh...

[ Still, with how well this went, she can't help but let out an elated laugh. ]

[Damage to the shore can be mitigated with cooperation, in preparation of the boat exploding. People can be evacuated from at-risk areas, a tsunami can be stopped with powers if one occurs, heroes can use their powers to find ways to shield from a pressure blast from an explosion.]

[The more that's done to prepare for the potential disaster the better.]

[ooc: In this section, feel free to do separate threads of characters working together to safeguard the shore.]

Edited 2022-07-14 02:56 (UTC)

[They have a search radius, but it's a lot of ground to cover, and only people that can fly or out over the water (or swim in it) can help narrow things down.]

[But they have a way to communicate and coordinate.]

[A life hangs in the balance. With his injuries, Robin won't be able to keep his head above water for long, especially as hypothermia sets in.]

[ooc: Please keep this to one thread.]

Edited 2022-07-14 02:56 (UTC)

[ Tim had told himself that he had a plan. There were several, in fact, of increasing impossibility in direct correlation to how many times he’d been hit in the head.

Getting down to the cargo hold and neatly defusing the bomb had been one of the first ones to go. No tools.

Taking out the goons to get more time to find tools to defuse the bomb? Not the way his knee buckled climbing the steep stairs to the deck.

Miraculously finding Batman on the deck with everyone already hogtied? Fists can do a surprising amount of damage to the brain.

He’d tried to get to the wheel of the boat, intending to get his hands on the keys and toss them in the lake before fucking up the controls as much as possible. Something simple. Spill coffee everywhere. Puke on the dashboard.

The henchmen, though, that was the problem. And their eyes. And… their guns, which don’t take long at all to be levelled at him.

Jumping off the boat without intervening at all - that wasn’t planned. But the narrow layout left him no other choice. Guns to the front and left. Railing and water left. Stairs to the Joker behind.

Man overboard it was, and the water was cold despite the time of year. Maybe 60 Fahrenheit, but it’s a huge shock when compared to blasting heat from Joker’s space heater. Feels cold enough where a swimmer can choose between slowly inching out into deeper water to adjust to the cold or diving under a wave to get over it quickly.

He doesn’t have that choice, going under immediately and trying not to sink. Tim manages to swim a little farther out from the boat. The cold is numbing the pain a little. He should be worried about that, but getting out of range and keeping his head above water are taking center stage in his mind. ]

[As soon as they'd located the ship, he'd headed out, not even thinking about it as he circled around to follow the course back, mentally calculating currents and drift and such as he started speeding over the water to try to find where Robin had entered the water. He'd been very little use in the detective work, and had left plenty of scouts attached for evac if it became necessary to clear the lakeshore.

This wasn't one of his strong suits, handling villains with serious damage in the plan, but search-and-rescue? That was something he could get behind in a Flash.

It was tricky to keep his wake down so the spray wouldn't block his vision as he carefully began the arcing pattern that hopefully would bring him to where his best friend was before too long, but he didn't really have much hope of that. Deep water rescues were complicated, and while there were patrol boats on the way, he knew he could get there faster.

The only question was would he be there in time?]

[Kon flies at top speed, his attention primed on his senses, on his vision and hearing. As he goes, he keeps alternating to X-ray vision, knowing it'll help him pierce through the water and possibly see something more solid. Thank God his X-ray vision doesn't actually use X-rays because he remembers something vague from science glass about water blocking radiation.]

[But also he's terrified he'll see that human form under the water rather than trying to stay afloat in the churning waves up top. ]

[He has to keep himself from thinking about the Joker, about the horrified tension he'd felt in his chest as he flew around the city trying to listen for Tim's and the Joker's voice. Then the way his heart clenched in his chest as he flew towards the lake at superspeed.]

[Every time he thinks of the Joker's menacing voice and Tim's voice crying out in pain from his phone, his eyes start to glow red with the rage swelling up in his gut and he has to clamp his feelings back down to force them back to blue.]

[He has to stop thinking about ripping the Joker in half. It's a Luthor thought, not a Kent thought. It's good that other people are handling the evil clown part of things because the temptation to just heatvision him in half would be so strong, and Kon hates having to fight the ugliness in himself he knows is there. The way he's different from Clark, who makes taking the high road look so easy. ]

[He checks the GPS and map on his phone to see he finished the section of the grid he was on, and opens the line to Bart again. There are others that might be joining them out here so he uses codenames.]

KF I covered the rest of grid 3, I'm working on grid 4. Have your scout near me take grid 5.

[His focus drifts and he has to drag it back, but a thought keeps bubbling up to the surface.]

[It's about his X-ray vision. And knowing that - if they don't find Tim alive - he'll have to retrace the parts of the grid everyone else is covering. ]

[Since they can't look under the surface for a body the way that he can.]

[Tears well in his eyes and he has to clamp them shut, just for a second, and then he continues on, flying as fast as he can while still scanning for with his different types of vision.]

[Please, God, let us find him in time. I can't do this again. I can't lose someone this important to me like I lost Tana.]

On it, SB!

[He's doing his best not to run the statistics. How long given the average temperature of the lake at this time they have before hypothermia sets in, the odds of finding something as relatively small as a floating person on the vast lake. And Robin was stripped of his costume, and with it all the gadgetry that might help.]

Grid 5 clear, starting 6...

[They had to have this covered, because the alternative was impossible to think about. He remembered losing Kon, how bleak things were, and how his own experiences had sent him into a spiral. He couldn't lose Tim.]

[ From the moment the livestream started, Tim knew who would be looking for him. He might not know everyone involved, but he knows that Batman, Superboy and Kid Flash are looking for the boat. He knows their priority order (neutralize the threat to the public, rescue Robin, capture the Joker). Suspects that the other Batman will do likewise. He knows who's at risk of reordering that list, and he outright knows that Red Hood is operating with the exact opposite hierarchy.

But he also knows how good Kryptonian hearing can be. Good enough that, really, if Tim or any of the other heroes needed help - he could shout for Superman and, if he wasn't already saving someone, Superman would come. It's happened once or twice, outside of Gotham. It's not the sort of thing anyone does lightly - there's four of them and billions of people. And vigilantes shouldn't be the priority because they should be able to save themselves. Completely last ditch effort.

He is miles from shore. ]

Superboy!

[ He gets a mouthful of water for the effort. He's been in murkier water than this, but the taste makes him kick harder to keep his head out of the choppy water. He does not want to drown here.

[The thing with Supers is they can place the exact location of a voice. They can tell the direction and the distance. So Kon knows that getting to Tim's exact location is the first priority.]

[There is no time to yell for Bart. He'll do it once he gets there. And Bart won't hear Kon's voice over the rush of wind anyway.]

[He can't break the sound barrier due to the hit his powers took, but he gets as close as he can at his current levels of speed. The sheer force of the air rushing away from him causes a wake in the water below, waves parting on each side.]

[He sees something on the water in the distance. He switches to x-ray vision and sees a skeleton thrashing in the waves.]

[A large wave swamps Tim and drags him under the water, one hand grasping above the surface. Fortunately, it's the good hand, not the one the Joker broke, which makes grabbing him easier.]

[Just before Tim goes completely under, Tim will feel a large, strong hand grabbing onto his own. TTK spreads from the hand around him, so that when he pulls him up, his body is supported. That way Kon's strength doesn't hurt his shoulder.]

[He's pulled upward in one hard pull and then he's in the air and strong arms are wrapping around his torso, the teke still supporting him.]

I've got you! I've got you! I've got you!

[It's a litany.]

[Kon listens for his heart and breathing, looks at his lungs with X-ray vision, making sure he hasn't inhaled water and stopped breathing, because then he'd have to use his teke for leverage and start CPR or something.]

[The second he's sure he's breathing, he'll tell Bart to meet them at their launch point.]

Edited 2022-07-17 23:18 (UTC)

[Bart sees Kon dive from where he's doing his run of the grid, and, leaving a scout to continue the pattern in case it's a false alarm, he heads in that general direction. He can't stay where he was when it could be Tim.

It's just a little slower because he's still working not to send up a giant rooster-tail of spray, but moments later, he's running beside Kon.]

What've you got, Kon?

[His eyes stop glowing from the X-ray vision and he looks at Bart with a horrified expression.]

[The words wrench their way out of him.]

His heart's beating but he's not breathing.

Get us back to shore!

[He flies down to Bart, grabs onto a shoulder so he starts getting dragged along behind him, his teke securing him and helping him hold onto Tim.]

[He can fly fast but Bart's faster.]

[A hospital is next, but he knows how important it is to get oxygen into his body even before the hospital. Especially while his heart is still pumping. He might start breathing again and even if he doesn't, at least his heart might pump some oxygen to his brain before it starts getting too weak. So a few breaths of rescue breathing when they can get him on a flat surface and then Bart can carry him to the hospital.]

[Kon's words are like a jolt of ice water, colder than the lake beneath his feet, but he doesn't hesitate, trusting Kon's grip and TTK to keep them together and Tim shielded from the force as he forgets about managing his wake and just pours on the speed.

Hardly a moment later they're there, on the thin strip of cultivated beach that lines Lake Shore Drive in Chicago, and he's doing a careful skid to bleed off momentum so he can just step off the water onto dry(ish) land.]

I'll back you up, but you've got the super-senses.

[Which, in this case, is easily as good as any monitoring equipment that would be ready to go if they continued to the nearest trauma center. And Bart was hesitant to do that, with how this world keeps tabs on known metas.]

[As he puts him on the ground and positions him, the words come out in a breathless ramble, as quick as he can say them.]

Keep taking his pulse and tell me if it changes so I can focus. I'm going to do rescue breathing. If we can't get him breathing in a few breaths, you need to rush him to a hospital.

[He starts rescue breathing on Tim, tilting his head the right way, pinching his nose and doing a head-tilt, chin lift, mentally thanking every person that ever emphasized the importance of knowing how to do first aid for victims being rescued.]

[He mentally counts the seconds between breaths, tries to focus on the numbers instead of the fear.]

Edited 2022-07-19 04:33 (UTC)

[ There’s nothing coherent -

And then there a chaotic jumble of mixed signals - Kick to get his head above water. Breathe. No. He’s grabbing him; get him off. His lungs are burning. Make it stop. Pain. Get it out - resulting in Tim trying to fight, breath, cough, swim, lurch upright all at once.

He doesn’t really have a thought until he’s somehow twisted to one side, allowing for the coughs interspersed with the wretched gasps for air to start clearing the aspirated water. And even then, it’s just that he can’t breathe deeply enough around the coughing. Tim tries to hold back the coughing for fear that he’ll black out again if it doesn’t stop, but can’t. He slumps against the ground, hacking and heaving. ]

Edited 2022-07-19 05:18 (UTC)

[ Welp that sure was coughed up water in his month but what's a little backwash between friends? Kon spits it off to the side. All that matters is Tim's breathing - and also panicking and trying to fight which means his brain is probably working okay. Kon would be a lot more worried if he'd coughed it up but wasn't fighting for consciousness or trying to move. Tim trying to react five different ways is normal. Tim being dazed after oxygen deprivation might be a sign of damage.]

[If Kon caught him as he was going under, it probably was only about a minute that he'd gone without oxygen. People could recover from that completely.]

Tim, it's okay! It's okay! Stop - just stop okay? You need to get in the recovery position.

[Kon tries to nudge him gently in the direction of being positioned that way but it's gentle and not overly forceful, and involves a lot more comforting rubs of his shoulder than an attack would. The way he touches him is too easy to fight against to be someone trying to force him into something painful.]

[And he doesn't just try to move him. The hand not trying to guide his shoulder so that he turns on his side is at his brow, pushing his wet hair out of his eyes, far too tender to be an enemy. It's far more shades of "Waking up in the Batcave after an injury to Alfred taking care of me when I'm sick or hurt" than "being hurt by the clown."]

It's okay, it's okay. You're safe. He's gone. You're safe. It's just me and Bart.

[His voice stays calm but firm. Tim needs to hear someone familiar, and needs gentleness, but needs his security reinforced.]

Breathe. You need to breathe. Try to get it all out.

We've got you, Tim.

[He's safe to cough until he nearly blacks out. He's safe to curl on the ground and try to calm his breathing. There is no immediate fight waiting for him. They're near Chicago but miles from the blast zone and this is just a pit stop anyway. Bart's fast enough to get them away from any trouble anyway. (Plus it's only registering now but there'd been chatter earlier about the other heroes dealing with the boat right before Kon had spotted Tim.)]

It's just us, okay?

It's just us.

[He's not crying in relief, that's just some spray from Bart running on the water in his eyes.]

[Bart moves back as Tim starts to cough and struggle, a startled sound escaping as one of the attempts to move nearly gets him hit by a flailing arm. He was too focused on the pulse and the sounds to be ready to switch gears, but as soon as he does, he blinks out for a split-second, returning with a stack of towels, but not draping them yet.]

We've got you, you're safe. Kon's right, it's just us.

[There's a moment where he wants to run a basic assessment since getting Tim breathing had been way more important than checking for other injuries, and Kon had probably looked for anything serious. They had a little time, and he absently tapped his ear to let him listen in on the other channel where those going for the boat were, even though his main focus was on his friends.]

Take all the time you need to breathe. We're good.

[ It’s not. It’s not okay. How can it possibly be okay when there’s so much wrong - he knows there’s so much wrong that needs to be relayed, but Tim can’t call up the information. It wouldn’t matter anyway, lost in the kaff kaff hnnnnnh kaff kaff hnnnnh.

He stops resisting the manipulation and only tenses twice. Once when he turns and a broken rib shifts. Most of the injuries can’t register simultaneously; too many nerves are screaming for attention. Again when the hand goes for his head. He doesn’t want to be hit, doesn’t want anything touching his face or head without the meager protection of the dumb ball cap. Where did it go? Presumably lost in the water.

The hat won’t be shoved back on, because it’s just us. Just Bart and Kon. It’s fine. He’s safe. He’s shivering, but that’s the breeze on soaked skin and clothes. He should do. do something. Take stock. Get through the pain and the shock and the laughing because the Joker’s not here. He’s not here. He’s on the boat and he’s going to take it out on everyone. ]

Chi-

[ Tim stupidly tries to sit up and talk and sinks back down again. Whatever muscles and bones just moved were evidently not supposed to, and the new coughing fit doesn’t stop until wretches up a mix of lake water and bile.

But after that, his breathing sounds better. Like he’s starting to get his breath back. Tim uses it on what’s important. ]

Chicago docks. Go.

[ It’s an order, despite being a whisper, and he absolutely expects them to leave him… wherever this is… to race off to Chicago. Like they said, he’s good. He can manage. He’ll call Oracle for backup. Good plan.

Shit. Barbara’s a chicken. He has his mask, right? He can walk. He got off the boat; he’ll manage. ]

No.

[He starts bundling him in some of the towels, just to start the warming process. Kon knows he needs a moment to rest and then Kon's going to suggest he loses the shirt and gets bundled in even more dry towels.]

Other people are handling the boat and the clown, and fresh water drowning is supposed to be worse than salt water. I remember that from all the first aid stuff we learned with the Titans. It screws up your lungs more than salt water. We're not leaving you to possibly cough up the inside of one of your lungs.

[He needs to go to a hospital.]

We're gonna take you to a get help and we're staying with you until someone catches the clown.

[They're not letting him get taken again.]

It's your choice where to go, though. We can all ditch the costumes and take you to a normal hospital, and come up with an explanation for what happened on the way there, or if you want to be more secretive we can take you to that clinic we found out about, where the unaligned heroes go.

I have a third option. I know a guy who can heal...well, anything. Friend of Prodigy's from his world. He's probably the only person I'd trust who could handle things if I ever got hurt badly.

[But it's not completely urgent now, even if Tim could have all kinds of complications from the near-drowning.]

I've got scouts out everywhere, acting as coordination as best as I can manage. B's organizing, and Red Hood is...well, you know how he gets on this topic. Nobody's going to let this go unanswered. And we've got the Coast Guard and everything called up, not to mention first responders on alert should things go boom in the wrong place.

[ Why aren’t they listening, now of all times? He can’t yell at them without hurting something.

He starts shaking his head at Kon’s first no. No to them not not going to manage the Chicago crowds and get the civilians out of the way. No to the hospital. No to the clinic. No to Bart’s friend.

Doesn’t stop shaking his head, although it’s more like he can’t.

They’re all too risky, and it’s not Tim’s risk. It’s not his right to make that call: it’s Batman’s decision. He has to okay it. ]

Take me to B’s office. Then go?

[ It’s a nice compromise. Batman can decide what to do with him later, and they can’t argue that it’s not the right call. If they were home, they’d take him to the Batcave. Take him there and go help, because what if the Coast Guard isn’t enough? ]

Please. ‘m not going to dry drown.

No.

[He won't. They won't. ]

Other people are handling the boat and evacuations, and thanks to you they had a lot of time to get people out. Bats is going after the clown. There's nobody like Nightwing or Alfred to drop you off with. Someone needs to take care of you.

So you can choose where to go for help but you don't have a choice on us getting you there and keeping you safe from him until they bring him in.

[Bart can't help the rueful chuckle that escapes him.]

If you think we're going to leave you anywhere, you're hiding more hits to the head than that video showed. That boat's not making landfall, more like escape velocity. Even Bats is okay with taking advantage of the power levels that can be brought to bear in situations like this.

So, we can go to find someone with actual medical expertise, or we can go somewhere out of the way, in which case we're staying close in case you relapse or something. Trust me, healing quickly isn't always a good thing.

[ There’s a suspicious pause because, yes, Tim took a significant number of hits to head and elsewhere before the stream started. He thinks. It’s foggy. Admitting that won’t help.

Oh, but Bart’s maybe added in an option for less notice and oversight. ]

Somewhere out of the way.

[ He’s not verbally agreeing to them staying with him. He’s just conceding. He’s exhausted, and the adrenaline is fading fast. They can do what they want - towels, moving him. Tim just wants it to stop hurting. ]

[Once the ship reaches a certain point of no return, a special speed boat comes to pick the Joker up. It has his face on the front and is shaped like a giant clown shoe.]

[There are multiple ways to figure out where the Joker is heading, whether it's a helpful overflight spotting his boat or tracking down some of the resources he used to get several tons of fertilizer and hacking shell companies to figure out where a private dock has been rented. Or, his actions can just be predicted. If he's started up a base in Central City, he'll want to get back home, and come back through the port nearest the city.]

[In any case, the Joker hasn't quite gotten away.]

[ooc: Please keep to one thread. This is locked to Batfamily. It will start with Jason Todd and then Batman will come in. If you want to also toss another batfam member in please coordinate with the others in the plot.]

Edited 2022-07-14 02:59 (UTC)

[Once it was clear the Joker and Robin were on a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan, Jason had gone quiet and let the others figure out how to do the rescue. They were better equipped on that front.

That didn't mean Jason was idle though. There were still things to do while in Central City. He knows Central City's criminal underworld well enough by now to have heard some rumblings about the port nearest the city.

So without telling anyone, Jason's gone off to stake out that port. He's lurking in the dark on a warehouse's rooftop and watching for the Joker's boat]

Edited 2022-07-14 03:38 (UTC)

[It's slightly impossible for the clown to be entirely discreet. He does strike a memorable figure after all. So there are leads in the criminal underworld, ones that chirp up awfully loud, very suddenly, after seeing the news of the ongoing crisis.]

[Especially as the Chicago waterfront and nearby areas evacuate.]

[Shell companies within shell companies are easier to dig through when they're all clown and gag related names. One of them has a purchase that matches the price of an escape speed boat. Another involves the rental of a pier so it's private property no one else will come near.]

[He hops up onto the pier from the boat with a spring to his step. He's not sure the bird brat is dead but even if he isn't, that trauma might even consume his entire being like it did for the zombie Robin, with his rootin tootin shootin crimelord act that drives the bat, well...utterly batty.]

[And while he won't be pleased when he finds out about the boat, an entire city will still have been terrorized. All in all, a fine day's work, and a fantastic starting honk on the nose of this new world.]

[The mooks aren't too bright, though; they don't see the bigger picture, how the whole things a win even if he loses.]

["Uh boss, how are we gonna know if the boat did its thing?"]

Because of the great big gaping hole in the waterfront of the windy city that'll be all over the news, you idiot. The press loves a good pointless tragedy! Especially when the kiddies are involved.

[There are an awful lot of children at the intended target. This is on purpose, of course. He wanted to start things with a bang.]

Always a showstopper! [He twirls in place and clasps his hands together in a mocking gesture of thinking something is precious.] Wee little babes, learning the hard lessons of the world for the very first time. Doesn't it bring a tear to your eye?

[He wipes an imaginary tear away, as if moved, and his expression drops to something far more sinister.]

For the first half second anyway. After that, they won't be able to learn anything at all.

[He laughs ones of his cackling laughs, at the joke no one else seems to get: the joke that is the empty world and the pointlessness in it.]

[His mooks look distinctly uncomfortable.]

[In the dark, Jason jumps and swings closer to the pier when he spots the clown's boat heading there. The Joker seems to be distracted with his bragging and cackling so Jason takes advantage and land at the top of warehouse closest to the pier.

No more elaborate plans. No more putting on a show for anyone. It's simply time to kill the Joker.

Jason takes out one of his desert eagles, aims at the Joker and fires his gun three times]

[He takes all three in the chest. Blood spatters over his goons.]

[No erratic dodging that somehow gets him out of the way, no suddenly noticing Jason and using some kind of gag weapon to throw off his shot.]

[He goes down with a surprised gasp. He stays down.]

[His mooks panic, take out their guns, and start shooting in Jason's direction.]

Edited 2022-07-25 02:54 (UTC)

[Jason fires back at the mooks as he jumps off of the roof and lands on the ground, using a dumpster for cover. He doesn't care if he kills the mooks. Jason needs to get close and check if the Joker's actually dead]

[They're not exactly top notch talent.]

[Eh, he did what he could on short notice. He hasn't been in this world long. The fact he's managed to build up some murderous capital already is pretty good all on its own.]

[So it doesn't take much to get the Stooges down. When Jason eventually comes out from behind his cover...]

[The body is gone, a trail of blood leading out into the warehouse.]

[Shit. Of course he's still twitching. The bastard's worse than a roach.

Still holding his gun, Jason follows the blood trail into the warehouse. He's well aware he could be walking right into a trap but there's not much of a choice. He's so close. He can't afford to let the Joker slip through his fingers again. Last time, he made the mistake of letting his emotions get in the way with the pathetic hope that Bruce would finally do the right thing.

No. He knows better now. If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself]

Aw shit, get your towels ready it's about to go down

Questions

The Boat - OTA

Fist = 1, Reason = 0

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The Shore - OTA

The Rescue - OTA

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The Escape - Closed to Batfam

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