2012-12-07 100 Miles And Running

Senator Castrovenes' limo is at the heart of an sizable motorcade working its way down I-66: his limo and the one beside it are flanked by two columns of three motorcycles, with a mixture of sedans, SUVs, and a single communications van bringing up the rear. Out in front, there's another set of four sedans tailing a row of vans, and up above, a helicopter - black, like every other vehicle in the procession - keeps pace with them all.
It's evening; the Senator is on his way to a speaking engagement. The straight-faced, aviator-wearing woman sitting nearby in the back of the limo carries a handgun beneath her black jackets; should he try to escape or misbehave while they're en route to the engagement, she won't hesitate to use that weapon to keep him in line, and so it goes for the dozens of other people responsible for 'protecting' the man since his world turned upside down.
It's all he can do not to look at either of them as he cradles a tiny device - a gift from the mysterious Batman - in his downturned fist and squeezes for all he's worth. Both hands lay in his lap, and his eyes remain fixed on the the world passing by his window. Slipping the beacon from his sleeve into his palm was a matter of waiting for just the right moment when his guardian's attention was elsewhere, and as narrow as that opening was, he managed to find and exploit it; now it's just a matter of looking the part of a thoughtful, distracted, perhaps even prayerful man preparing for the stress of making yet another public appearance after the painful loss of his family, rather than a prisoner on the verge of freedom.
"This is the right place and time, isn't it?" Booster Gold is standing on a rooftop half a mile away, shading his eyes with one hand, even though he is wearing goggles. They grant him a telescopic view of the motorcade.
"I think so, sir. My records for this incident are woefully incomplete, and may even have been improperly interpreted," Skeets replies, hovering beside his boss like a golden egg that has figured out the secret to flight prior to its hatching.
"You know, you'd be way more helpful if you could give me details. Like... what's the threat? -Is- there an actual threat? Am I going to get blamed for any of this?" Booster looks over at the robot, frowns faintly, and floats up into the air a few feet.
"You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, sir," says Skeets.
Angel was quite surprised to be tracked down for this mission, but he wasn't about to turn it down. When he found out that Nightcrawler would also be on the mission, they arranged to have him fly them both. It's not something that can be tracked via flight logs, bus lines, or even limousines -- and for something of this delicate nature, they decided it would be best.
They were still a ways out when Angel caught sight of the helicopter and, with only a murmured warning, he gained altitude to fly into the area actually above the helicopter and, he hopes, out of line of their sensors. "Just give me the signal and I'll let you go do that voodoo that you do so well..."
Axiom still can't believe this is going on. He went from poking around to getting attacked to fighting alongside Wolverine. And now he's part of a rescue operation with some great superheroes. In costume, he's keeping quiet, sticking close to where he was told to stay out of sight, and going over the plan again in his head. Taking a deep breath, he glances up and waits for the signal to start using his powers. He just needs for Nightcrawler to be in sight before he can boost him.
Somewhere over Annapolis, a sleek and black shape tips its wings in the moonlight as it changes course slightly towards Washington. Keeping high above the cloud cover to stay out of sight, the Batwing hurtles along at a phenomenal speed.
"Inbound," says Robin in the cockpit, a smug grin on his face as he flicks a few switches on the console, "Weapons live."Coming in over Washington, the Batwing dips down beneath the clouds and activates a jamming suite to hide it from those policing the airways. A pair of hard-points descend from the jet's wings, whirring as they come to life.
"Beginning attack run," Robin announces into the radio, the Batwing swooping down low over the motorcade with the roar of a tortured sound barrier. The missiles mounted to the hard-points burst free, streaking towards the road before embedding themselves in the pavement. None of the cars are struck, but that is not the purpose behind these missiles.
Now, scattered across the road in a pattern that leaves no space wide enough for a car to drive through, a series of hefty steel pylons block traffic.
Of course Kurt is along! Who could possibly get into that limosine and out again in a matter of heartbeats? (Well, probably a few, but with such flair?) As a result, well.. Nightcrawler is flying with Warren, the view.. "This is quite the view, Angel," he jokes in the night air. "It's rare that I get this particular vantage." Still, his attention is on the matter at hand; a touch of nervousness in that he hasn't actually been //in// said limosine. But one's like another, right? "Almost there.."And then all hell breaks loose? "Zum teufel!" is muttered, and Nightcrawler has no choice but to now.. move. "Time to go.."
Some men aren't answerable to money or authority, succeptible to intimidation or coersion; one of these men is the Batman, and the Caped Crusader is in fact here to make good on his seemingly insane promise to the Senator.. even as more of their allies storm the base where his family is being similarly 'protected'. The first sighting, as the screeching turbines of the Batplane heralds the motorcade-stopping payload, proves to be a diversion within a diversion: from between buildings, lower than low, the Dark Knight flies, propelled on dark and aerodynamic wings. The glider pack quickly carries Batman aloft on a quick thrust of jets, and he banks sharply starboard to fly on silent wings out over the highway, and the motorcade.
"Extraction team, get him clear. They're about to be very busy." Removing the Senator from danger before his ample security has any idea what's going on? Priority one in the Batbook. Today, he's the distraction. Wasting no time, the Dark Knight rolls in parallel with the street, coming up below the chopper.
Exoskeletal limbs automatically unharness the Caped Crusader as he inverts beneath said helicopter, firing a grapnel line upwards and using it to launch himself in a swift arc intended to carry him smashing through into the cockpit itself, boots first... as the bat-glider (or bat-jetpack?) falls away, wings folding in around itself into an armored, airdroppable package; concrete cracks beneath it where it lands on the shoulder of the road, a blinking indicator flashing subtly as the engines recharge.
A short ways past the lead vans lies the normal flow of traffic--until the Batwing makes itspresence felt. Most of the vehicles right in front of the dividing line screech to a halt at the impacts, their drivers staring at the pylons from nowhere with varying measures of shock, curiousity, and disbelief. Unique among them is the driver of an 18-wheeler that /was/ directly in front of the motorcade; when he glances at his rear view mirror, all he sees is a problem.
Frowning, he reaches up to activate the tiny communications device wedged into his ear. "There's a complication," he hisses. "A /big/ one. There's no way we're going to be able to deploy like this!"
Meanwhile, up above, a helicopter pilot has just enough time to scream before heavy boots shatter his windshield and render him unconscious. The craft almost immediately begins a dangerous spiral towards the road below as the man slumps over the controls, but there's enough room in the cockpit to shove him aside and take control, if the Bat is so inclined.
It's worth noting, by the way, that said cockpit has /numerous/ controls that don't really belong on an average helicopter's control console, and judging from their form and positioning, it would be a fair bit that most of them are linked to weapons systems--despite a lack of obvious armaments on the outside of the thing.
Below, the whole motorcade is screeching to a halt, from front to back; by the time the rearmost SUVs and communication van hit their breaks, the doors of the vehicles up front are opening to let their occupants out. A few are dressed similarly to the woman accompanying the Senator - a nice black suit with a jacket, aviators, and polished shoes; the lionshare - mainly those on bikes or climbing out of the vans - are in dark, clearly armoured tactical gear, however, complete with dark masks and goggles to conceal their faces. Those who aren't already toting automatic weapons as they hit the pavement make retrieving them from their vehicles priority #1.
As for the limos: the drivers are the only ones coming out of those. The Senator's guard has her weapon drawn and ready for whoever tries one of the doors; wordlessly, she gestures him away from one of those doors with a flick of his head, and he has little choice but to comply by scooting over to the middle of the seat.
And all the way at the rear, surrounded by communications consoles and monitoring equipment, a middle-aged woman pinches the bridge of her nose as she watches her operation fall to pieces. "We'll--hh." she transmits to the panicked truck driver, along with the other drivers in the caravan. Her hand slides up to massage her temple briefly. "Alright: Plan B. Some of the vehicles are equipped to deploy armaments independently: assess this threat, keep it contained, and be ready to do exactly that." With that, she breathes out a sigh, steeples her hands, and narrows her eyes on one of her screens.
Where /did/ that first airborne hostile come from?
"Oh, man. Skeets, you gave me the wrong time. Stuff is happening and I'm missing it!" Booster Gold watches as the team begins its mission. He flies towards the motorcade like a shooting star, exclaiming, "Man, they are gonna use up all the heroics before I can do anything."
"But sir, I don't think you--" Skeets begins, but his boss is already quite far away. Rather than opening a communication channel to Booster, the robot mutters, "Of course you could simply rush in and punch the first thing you see, or as you tend to refer to it, 'The Default Plan'."
"Now I can't even figure out which ones are involved and which are uninvolved," Booster complains to Skeets, via their communication channel. "I should dock your pay." Pause. "If I paid you." He pulls up just in front of the halted motorcade, a figure that is faintly glowing golden, and the armament detection mode of his HUD goes nuts as it starts throwing targeting loci all over the place. "Uh. Wowzer. These dudes are packing."
As soon as Nightcrawler gives the word, Angel lets go of him. "Good luck...I'll be circling and keeping an eye on that helicopter and out for you. Don't get shot." Upon hearing the strange voice over the comm he asks, "Is there a safehouse in mind or should I just fly off into the sunset and we convene later?" He's going to keep a fair distance above the helicopter as Batman swoops in. Yeah. Distance is a good thing.
"That is so cool," Axiom grins as he sees the Batwing in action. The voice over the com link he's been lended makes him pause since he's pretty sure he's heard it before but he shakes it off. Spotting the flying mutants, Axiom jumps. Time to get to work. Staying in his little hiding spot until it's time to get out of it, his eyes glow bright blue as he uses his powers to boost Nightcrawler. After a quick internal debate, he ends up mimicking him too. After all, an extra bit of teleportation could help, right? As the mimicry takes effect, Axiom's costume shifts into a fusion of his own and Nightcrawler's. On top of that...well...Axiom's a little surprised to find himself looking all blue and fuzzy like a relative of that incredible X-man. "Woah..." and then he notices he's got a tail too. He's distracted away from his discovery by the arrival of Batman and he grins. "Oh man this is g-great," quickly is followed by an 'eep' at the falling helicopter. He's got faith in Batman to be able to handle that though.
"Good luck, Angel," and via the communicator, Nightcrawler offers, "Going to retrieve the package." The moment he *bamfs*, that is, opens that portal and disappears, only to reappear in the limosine, he's more than aware that he's.. feeling a little strange. Different.. but yet the same. It's an amazing rush, and he grins a wide, sharp-toothed grin at the Senator, and whichever aides or security that may be with him a heartbeat after he arrives that the smell of brimstone in the air. "The Cavalry is here," and reaching out, he takes hold of the man.. and within the space of time of.. the blinking of an eye, the blue fuzzy elf (that some may describe as a demon) disappears with the target. It's very, very quick, and with any luck, Angel will be ready, as Nightcrawler reappears in the middle of the air with that burst of air that immediately fills the vacuum, and immediately begins a somewhat rapid descent. "Now!"
The Dark Knight all but effortlessly heaves the pilot into the copilot's seat, atop his momentarily confounded compatriot. He had anticipated the chopper would be instrumental to maintaining the perimeter and their advanced weapons systems.. it's one step towards ensuring that electronic superiority and the sky both belong to the Bat. A batarang and reinforced line is used to wedge the controls, several almost offhand punches delivering the back of one armored gauntlet to the copilot's helmet until he falls back, faceplate shattered. |"Straight out to sea."| Batman's answer to Angel's concern is elegant yet unusual. |"I'll have a ride waiting."|
But not the one he's in now. That helicopter not-so-gracefully veers into a near-horizontal acceleration out over the bay, its operators rigged in floation devices and dropped unconscious out the window ahead of the Batman, throwing his cape out wide to the sides as a trio of black pellets are released from each clenched hand. They rebound up the road and scatter amongst the convoy, throwing out hissing clouds of voluminous, sight-obscuring smoke to cover Nightcrawler and Angel's escape with the Senator.
"Stay out of the way," comes Robin's slightly-accented, irritated voice through Booster Gold's comms, flicking the channel to something Batman can hear, "Is this one part of your team?"
The Batwing flies in a holding pattern for the most part, breaking from it only long enough to keep close to Booster. Down on the ground, the steel pylons in the ground begin to hiss nastily with electricity - ready to taze any who try to tamper with them.
Nightcrawler appears--
"Woah! I don't thin--"
--and in the next moment he's gone, leaving nothing but the stink of brimstone and failure to linger with the guard. And gunpowder; to her credit, she managed to draw a bead on the German mutant for a split-second, but the bullet whizzes through a puff of smoke before boring a hole through the limosine's door.
"--k so--shit--" The agent quickly activates her radio. "It's gone," she bites off, lowering her weapon. "Target is a meta, blue. Teleportation..."
Throughout it all, the Senator just stares at Nightcrawler in mute, wide-eyed shock and tries not to throw up. He hasn't done a whole lot of teleporting in his time.
Nightcrawler himself is a poor target, so long as he has the Senator in tow; the winged mutant angling to rendezvous with him is a different story, however, and while Angel moves into position, most of the men and women below pepper the air with automatic weapons fire, trying to shoot him out of the sky before it's too late; a few are climbing back into their vehicles, as per their CO's instructions.
In the communications van, said CO grimaces at the sight of Nightcrawler, Angel and the Senator in the air above the disaster unfolding outside--until smoke billows across each of her screens in turn, courtesy of Batman. "Hold your fire!" she reflexively orders. "Continue with Plan B, and prepare to shoot the hostiles out of the sky! I want sniper coverage ready to go!"
And while the sound of gunfire does rapidly die off at her command, a chorus of mechanical whirring and grinding rises from the smoke-covered highway/battlefield to replace it.
"Uh, hello?" Booster replies to the voice that has broken into his communication frequency. "Hi! I'm not sure if you know this, but uh, these guys have some super heavy duty armaments going on, here. Like, way out of line with what I think is typical for this era. As in, I really hope you're prepared for this kind of firepower because I think it's about to get -extremely dangerous-." The golden hero seems fairly unconcerned, despite what he is reporting, and just hovers in the air as he surveys the convoy. "Some of the readings I'm getting, especially some of the heat signatures, are off the hook."
"On it," Angel begins to angle in to grab the Senator before he's in free-fall for too long. As the gunfire around him starts to go off, he quickly says over the comm, "A little help please." The smoke screen from Batman should help at least. As soon as he has the Senator, he quickly switches directions and tries to wing off as quickly as possible towards the sea. As long as the bullets don't hit him in any major areas or in the wings, he'll deal with being shot later.
"If you're going to puke, Senator, please just aim down."
Axiom jumps at the sound of gunfire, eyes scanning the street to count up how many are shooting. When the smoke screen goes up, Axiom curses softly under his breath. He's about to start saying something when that whirring and grinding catches his attention. "Whatever that is, it's probably not good," he says to himself, waiting to see what it is before he springs into action.
"You're welcome, Senator," And there, the 'package' is handed off.. and with a 'Good luck' given to his friend, Nightcrawler teleports on his way 'down', now searching for a target and not becoming one himself by just.. keeping moving. |"Is there a target for me to take?"| He's not been able to actually identify a hard target, after all. It's hard to get a bead on the sound of machinery below, and it'll take a couple of good teleports before he's on the ground, but he has to keep moving. |"Was.."| What?
|"We're prepared."| Batman cuts in over Booster Gold's communications, |"Cover the Senator's escape."| The instruction is swapped to an op-wide channel that now includes Booster-- at least for the moment. |"Robin, head low over open water and slow to intercept. Proceed immediately to location beta."| The benefits of a jetcraft that can hover. The Dark Knight crouches near the side of the bridge where he lands, staying low under the guardrail near his fallen glider-pack.
As the off-balance helicopter all but inverts in a resounding splash into the water, the Dark Knight continues his offensive. The front pouches of Batman's utility belt are swiftly emptied in a flurry of small, electrified batarangs-- each aligned with a gunman lurking in the smoke, for the moments he can make out their thermal scans against the veritable sun thrumming in several vehicles of the convoy. Powering up, or...
Eyes narrowed, the Bat straps back into his jetpack, armored black wings extending to either side. |"Contain and apprehend."| Current objectives, simplified; Nightcrawler and Axiom may be in on the plan, but Booster Gold should probably be informed. The question, of course, is just -what- they have to contain..
The Batwing immediately banks to the right, following along on the same trajectory as Angel in the direction of the sea. After a moment it shoots ahead, coming to a stop at the prearranged coordinates and hovering - VTOL engines activated.
The cockpit hisses open and Robin climbs out, standing on the wing and peering off into the distance as he waits for Angel to arrive with the Senator.
"I've got enough for one shot here--maybe two if I push it...""Only two of my turrets actually have ammo! What the hell do you expect...""This machine wasn't designed to work this way--!"
The CO briskly rubs her face as the reports pour in. Her operatives know their jobs, and she expects - knows - that for all their concerns and complaints, her people will come through for her. "Come on," he hisses to her team without actually transmitting to them. "Get yourselves together and--"
"Unit Tau is operational," one of her men calmly transmits. "I'm deploying now; it should help."
And with that, the smoke is rapidly drawn back as a deafening burst of high frequency sound explodes through the night air. Powerful shockwaves send cracks shooting across the pavement and rippling distortions cascading away from the source of the deadly tone: one of the motorcade's vans, now split down its middle to both widen its profile and reveal a dizzying array of technology thrumming away in what should be its rear. A great, circular object not unlike a speaker cone rests at the heart of the machine, with a mass of wires and glowing contacts connecting it to everything else.
And it isn't alone: right next to it, another van has opened up to reveal a railgun. Behind the limos, a a couple of SUVs are now bristling with turrets and launchers previously hidden by panels along their flanks, and a guard is scrambling to seat himself behind the gatling gun that seems to have replaced a sedan's roof.
Littering the ground between the array of transformed and still seemingly normal vehicles are the guards unlucky enough to have been caught by Batman's watchful eye and electric batarangs, leaving a few fortunate souls to scramble for weapons and cover as the smoke clears. As soon as the field is clear enough, most of them will open fire on Nightcrawler and Booster both, leaving a few to search for some sign of the elusive Bat.
"I--" the Senator utters as all this goes on; he forces himself to look directly at the Angel carrying him to safety. "I wouldn't dare," he quietly promises. "Tell, ah, the other one 'thank you' for me, if you get a chance..."
"Cover?" Booster repeats. "Hey, I can do that." He grins, then, and suddenly flies in closer, just as a torrent of bullets pour his way. Although many of the projectiles hit him, they either shatter or flatten against his body and scatter to either side, robbed of most of their momentum. "Is that all you've got? Weak sauce!" Booster calls down, brushing some imaginary dust off of his shoulders. "And here I thought there'd be some challenge involved." After bringing his hand up to half-cover a mock-yawn, he stretches that arm out and a blast of golden energy fires towards one of the turrets.
Angel is trying not to look back at what's going on. Not until he's sure the Senator is safe. Adrenaline can be a wonderful thing, especially if one might be shot. As long as the blood loss isn't too sudden, he should be all right for the time being. At the request, he glances down, "I'll make sure he gets the message." He keeps most of his attention towards the water to find that ride that's supposed to be waiting. It isn't too long before he catches sight of the hovering bat-craft and angles towards it.
He circles a few times in order to get to the right altitude without losing control and plunging them both into the water, but eventually he gets to where he's also hovering, this time over the aircraft. Making sure he's cloes enough, Angel then begins to help lower the Senator down to the one waiting. "I trust you're going to keep him safe, right?"
Robin reaches up to help the Senator onto the wing, escorting him back towards the cockpit of the Batwing and the waiting passenger seat. As he does so, he glances over his shoulder at Angel and scoffs.
"Of course," is all he offers, settling down into the pilot's seat and flicking a few of the controls to get the craft ready to fly again.
"I have him," Robin continues, this time into his radio, "We are outbound."
He doesn't need to ask if Batman needs his help. He'd tell him if he did.
Axiom lets out a surprised little yelp as that tone goes off, clapping his hands over his ears. Gritting his teeth, the currently fuzzy power-booster picks a target. Concentrating, he puts the mimiced powers to use and vanishes from the spot. He reappears atop that gatling-sedan and swings a kick at the guard trying to get to the controls in hopes of keeping that one weapon from being used on anyone.
That sonic blast, well.. it's painful, to say the least. It's enough to knock Nightcrawler back and give him more than a little pause, though at this point, everything that he's doing now is rote; he's falling back on his training- all muscle memory and instinct. On the move means to survive.. and the sounds of bullets that begin to fly? Well.. Kurt is physically feeling more himself than he normally does, and it's certainly something of a puzzle. Still, hello gift horse, not going to open up your mouth! And he's on his way, landing on an SUV to quickly dispatch one gunner (knocking him out), then another even as they try to turn it upon the telporting blue fuzzy elf (demon!) before he renders the turret.. inoperable. The elf, however, is quick.. very quick, and experienced yellow eyes work to pick out the one who is in charge of everything even as he dodges, using both his god given abilities.. teleporting and making it look good..
From the aerial backpack come two pieces of a device that looks somewhat like a futuristic rifle once combined in a deceptively simple snap-and-lock motion with a safety code and computerized input adjacent to a rather advanced, scanning video screen attatched to the gadget's scope. One of the settings the Dark Knight quickly taps out corresponds to countdown; another, payload.
While the simpler solution might be to simply shoot the soldiers seeking him out, instead the Batman abruptly cuts off their path, firing adhesive plastique in gobs with their own timed detonator all along the mouth of the bridge, before launching himself all but straight up into the air. Below the Bat, explosive charges blow a tremendous trench of rubble in the mouth of the bridge; the trapped vehicles in the convoy aren't getting back -that- way, either. Not if the Caped Crusader has anything to say about it.
The glider's bat wings automatically angle to catch lift as guided by the control struts-- which, incidently, seem designed to mount that explosive launcher. Its payload is dialed down, along with the timer, and the Batman does a swift, serpentining flyover peppering vehicle engines and armaments with plastic explosives; in liberal quantities, no less, limited largely by the positioning of nearby, squishier targets. Precision is practically the Dark Knight's middle name; except that's not really catchy, in the least. |"Fire in the hole."| Friendly comms even ping a warning if they stray too close to the demolition charges. Batman is a philanthropist.
3... 2... 1...
"We're going to want to leave, I think," the CO quietly observes as she turns an eye towards the bulletproof Booster Gold. "No trace of the Senator, or the winged metahuman. None of my sensors can find the craft that dropped the pylons; we weren't ready for this." 'We weren't ready' may as well be a curse, the way she says it. "I don't actually want--"
A rapid series of detonations not far behind the communications van cuts her off, forcing her to brace against the nearest console until it's over. One look at her monitors, and she has a brand new order to give:
"--surrender." The word is like bile in her mouth. "Now. Immediately. We may as well be hurling /stones/ at them." After a drawn out sigh, she mutters, "Should have had him shot down before the hand-off," and gently smacks her cheek. "I must be going /soft/..."
The call to surrender comes as one SUV's side-mounted rocket launcher is nearly sheared off its chassis by Booster Gold, sending the man who was seated behind it flying. The weapon is attached, but only barely - a bit of tortured metal and a few wires are all that remain. Over on the other SUV, Nightcrawler manages to stay a few steps ahead of the guards - three in all - who are trying to aim sidearms at the elf/demon who's systematically taking them out; when all is said and done, there's nobody left conscious there /to/ surrender.
Similarly, the person who was about to man the sedan/gatling gun is clinging to the bottom of his gunnery nest when the order is given, after the very unexpected kick from Axiom; still, he's at least able to shout, "Surrender! I surrender!" before going back to trying to pull himself back up. The glob of plastique that hits the turret a second later only adds to his urgency; in fact, he decides to drop off to the ground and get the hell away from the vehicle before it explodes. The other guards who are still conscious on the ground throw their weapons down and their hands up as well; those near the vans follow the sedan gunner's lead in moving away from the vehicles when plastique lands on them.
Once he's situated beside Robin, the Senator squints over at the boy, begins to ask, "Do you--do you have a--" and then cuts himself off and slowly turns his eyes forward.
Probably better not to worry about licenses right now, all things considered.
"Awesome." Booster Gold cannot exactly drop his weapons, but the glow around his fists winks out as he sees men tossing down their weapons and gesturing for surrender. He lets himself waft upwards slightly on the updraft caused by the explosions, then drops downwards to come in for a landing. Turning his head as he scans for further engaged weaponry and casualties, he says over his breached communication channel, "So... should we be scooping people up? I don't know the protocol here, like if I touch anyone, does that breach some kind of law? Like, the police won't want to claim them if they've been handled."
Angel makes sure to follow the plane for only a short distance before he starts to turn back in case he needs to be another diversion. "Still there?" he asks over the comms, "The Eagle has Landed." Or something like that. "Anyone else need to be flown out?" He might as well ask while the adrenaline is still going.
Axiom grins, flashing a pair of fangs as the gunner surrenders. "Really? Well that's a first," he chimes. He's about to reach down to pull the guy up when he notices the plastique. When he gets the message over the comlink and realizes what the goop is, he lets out a little squeak of surprise. This is followed by Axiom vanishing with a BAMF. He reappears away from the sedan and pauses as he notices Nightcrawler. Figuring the elder elf/demon-looking guy knows where to go to avoid exploding things, he follows the mutant.
//Und there.. there she is.// "I think I've found the person in charge. Going for her now," which, perhaps, will answer Nightcrawler's friend's question. He puts te finishing touches on 'his' turret, and as he teleports and flips, moving quickly from place to place with a great deal of ease, he lands, finally, before the woman that he assumes has been acting as the OC, the officer in charge. He can tell there's not been any real loss of life, which cheers him greatly; so far, the mission is a success. But now? Straightening now to his full height, the blue, fuzzy mutant looks slightly down with pupiless yellow eyes, and reaches out, "I think you should come with us." He still transmits on the com, announcing his intentions. Some help with where to put her, however, is always nice. "I am certain there is a place for you." In prison? Anywhere but in a large limo in the middle of a ticker tape parade. The appearance of.. his doppleganger, however, takes his attention.. and Nightcrawler blinks.. his mouth dropping. "Who are.." but now isn't the time, it really isn't... and he looks back at the woman in charge, puts a hand to rest upon her, and is ready at the word to teleport out with her to wherever ... the cleanup best left to others.
"That's baby birds." The Batman helpfully informs Booster, drily. "And an urban legend." As the private army throws down its weapons around their half-deployed defenses, the Dark Knight lands on the perimeter, near the edge of the bridge. His 'wings' fold closed into a streamlined, if heavy pack as he stalks forward-- intent on the commanding officer as Nightcrawler moves to secure her. |"Get her out of here, we'll turn her over to the authorities after"| It's an important interrogation. For a moment, Batman looks downright disappointed as he doesn't get to make that bust; but it looks like he'll just have to trust Logan's unusual allies, at least for the moment.
The Caped Crusader's attention is quickly diverted to moving from man to man, restraining them for the authorities-- and tossing a wad of zipties to anyone who wants to help in that process. A flash drive containing pieces of the Dark Knight's conversation with Castroneves himself edited down into a statement implicating his 'bodyguards' in all sorts of violations is conveniently taped to one bound soldier's forehead.
"I think that you should leave," the CO coolly retorts once the initial shock of a blue mutant(or two?!) suddenly appearing in her van passes. She looks to be somewhere in her early to mid 40s, with shoulder-length black hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, a black bulletproof vest, and a pair of dark cargo pants. A few grenades are buckled to her vest, while a pistol is prominently holstered at her hip.
"Seeing as how you're terrorists who've just publically kidnapped an elected official." After a beat and a quick look at the pair, she amends: "/Mutant/ terrorists," with a wrinkle of her nose. "In /these/ times..."
Just as she begins tsking disapprovingly, however, Batman sticks his cowl in; after flicking her eyes down at the symbol on his chest, a frown begins to creep across her features.
"The myth himself," she murmurs with a hint of bitterness, eyes narrowing. "And so far from home; how fortunate for me."
"Wowzer. I can't believe you... Batman... actually exists." Booster seems genuinely impressed as he says this over his communicator; not starstruck, exactly, just interested and enthusiastic. "I mean, our records... well, anyway." He is using zip-ties to help secure the hands of some of the surrendered mooks. Pausing, he allows his goggle array to augment his hearing, and then he has to wonder, "What the heck are 'mutant terrorists'." And now he is glancing around, mostly at the ground, as if he were expecting something terrible to emerge from the cracked and punished asphalt.
"Terrorists who are mutants?" Skeets supplies, having finally managed to fly over. In truth, he was hanging out away from all of the explosions and weapons fire, because he is a cautious robot.
"Yes, thank you, but I -meant- it makes no sense without context. Jerk." says Booster.
"Is extra support needed?" Angel asks on the comm, finally coming to land on a building just on shore. It's not the smoothest landing, much to his surprise, as apparently a few bullets did get to him. "Dammit. Anyone else hurt?"
Axiom offers a wave and a smile as Nightcrawler notices him. He'll be happy to explain later. Batman appearing gets a little surprised noise from the teen. "Oh w-w-wow..." he trails off, grinning. "Batman," it's hard to resist fanboy mode when you're seeing -Batman-. The woman's comments get a frown out of Axiom. "Ma'am, you've g-got that pretty wrong. You're the bad guys. We just rescued the Sentator," he chimes. Using some zip ties to bind some of the mooks up, Axiom glances over when he hears Booster Gold and grins again. "Oh man...Wiccan is going to love hearing about this. That's Booster Gold," he quietly fanboys to himself. Angel's call over the comlink gets a pause. "Umm, this is Axiom. And if it's n-not too much trouble...I could use a little help getting back home. To New York when we're all done," he says over the comm. His first comments over it since Logan gave it to him. "No, I'm g-good."
Batman's response to Booster Gold is frank and arguably informative, "I get that a lot." Not existing. There's a subtle, sidelong nod indicating Axiom's well-timed response. More seriously, "Labelling this 'mutant terrorism' is just another in a long line of attempts to normalize radical behavior to a particular minority group." The Batman leaves the rest of the squad for the police and turns his attention back to the reluctant commander. Eyeslits narrow as he considers her, "You might want to reconsider that story, before it costs you more than your command and career." It's spoken with the grim confidence of a man who knows more than he's letting on.
There's a nod, indicating Nightcrawler, "You'll go with him, you'll answer our questions, and then you'll be turned over to the authorities, with all the protections of laws you've done everything within your power to subvert. If I were you..." those eyeslits narrow further, and the Dark Knight's grip tightens visibly on the door to the limo, muscles taut and jaw set as he just /stares/ before concluding, ".. I'd be thanking whatever god I believe in I was left with -that- much of an option."
Batman's words are barely more than a whisper, intoned in menacing murmurs only for Castroneves' handler; the one who this screwup probably blows back on, at least in part. Regardless, the Caped Crusader doesn't make hollow threats. |"Negative, mission successful, proceed to rendevous."|
As Batman speaks, the commander's frown deepens until she's practically mirroring his grave, narrow-eyed expression; the difference is that she lacks the opaque lenses and - more importantly - damning evidenceto pull it off.
"--we'll see," she eventually, defiantly bites off, turning her face away from his to look squarely at Nightcrawler. The slight tip of her chin is as close to acquiescing as she'll get, but it's enough.
As for the guards outside, they accept being restrained without (much) struggling; they were ordered to surrender, and so surrender they shall. Besides: the law is on their side, or so they figure; they were only doing their jobs.
If only they knew what was taped to their comrade's forehead...
"Minority group?" Booster Gold is clearly lost.
"Sir, if I may, I will send a brief summation to your heads up display," offers Skeets, who is already doing so even before his boss can accept this.
After a long, quiet moment where Booster seems to be looking at nothing and scratching the back of his neck, he admits, "I'm not sure I understand it, yet, but from what I can see this seems kind of messed up." He turns, then, leaning to peer into the vehicle where the commander is sitting, and he points her way as he shouts, "HEY! What you're doing is messed up! Shame on you. You are -not- a nice person. You should think about what you've done and maybe even ... write apology letters. Something like that."
"Sure, I can get you back to New York," is offered over the comm as Angel inspects the damage done to him. Now he's beginning to hurt. "Once we meet at the rendezvous. I trust someone has a first aid kit..." and since they seem to have things under control, he'll take off before he loses what energy he has.
"Thanks, sir," Axiom chimes to Angel over the com. He's quick to finish up zip-tying the thugs for the police and then moves quickly over near Batman. He stops boosting and mimicking Nightcrawler, shifting back to his normal appearance with a small shimmer of light. He's ready to follow along to the rendezvous point so he just stays quiet and ready to do anything that might be needed of him.
There's no further comment from the Dark Knight-- it just leaves the commander's defiance ringing all the more hollow as it rolls like so much water off Batman's back. He pushes more fully into the van to detach several components from the computerized rigs therein, along with a choice circuitboard or two. Then, the Bat smoothly ducks back out of the van; it's unlikely anyone notices the small, unassuming transmitter he tucks into a gap in the doorframe along the way, either. It's one of many that are collecting amongst the convoy, a process he finishes with the comm van before tucking his gathered components into several interlocking compartments detached from his vest, then sealed.
The resultant larger parcel is then loaded into the grapnel gun he carries, and fired almost casually off, far into the bay. "I couldn't agree more." Batman notes simply to Booster Gold as he catches up to.. well, this world. "You're not from around here, I take it." This, too, is so deadpan as to leave the subtly bemused undertone and deeper insinuation would be completely lost on some observers. "There's been a run of that, lately."
As Nightcrawler gets the commander back to their own safehouse, and Robin flies the Senator clear of any forces that might track him or wish him harm, the Batman's business is-- for the moment-- done. |"Everyone fall back, we're done here. Do you need first aid to fly?"| The question implies concern, but the Caped Crusader is cool and direct.
"Come with us." Beat. "Use your own power to fly. Time to get clear." The Bat invites Booster, then Axiom, rather tersely and simply before launching into the air on his own mechanical wings and a burst of blue flame.
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