The Argo Academy (Main Grounds, IC)

Camleen

I'm going to be my own kind of princess
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. One post per day
  2. 1-3 posts per week
  3. One post per week
Writing Levels
  1. Intermediate
Preferred Character Gender
  1. No Preferences
Genres
In no particular order: Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Modern, Magical, Romance, anime, comic books, cartoons, video games..
The Argo Academy
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Open Signups, Info

Posting order:
Dinah Lance, Zatanna Zatara - @Camleen
Pamela Isley, Harleen Quinzel - @Ms.Ezra
Conner Kent - @MrStoryTeller
Roy Raymond Jr. - @Not_Amy
Anselle Cordell - @Ragamoofin
Megan Morse, Bary Allen - @Gands

Emiko Queen - @QuakeUPSB


 
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Emiko says she has nothing to give in return, and Zatanna smiles a bit more as she shakes her head. “You don’t have to give me anything, Emiko…” but Emiko relents, of course. And when Emiko hands her the necklance, Zatanna is almost immediately taken by it. “Oh my! Oh it’s beautiful!” She practically squeals, holding the necklace up a little to inspect it closer. She glances to Emiko as she explains the trinket’s uniqueness. The tip of a spear from a great warrior… this is indeed a special little gem. While Emiko voices a bit of doubt as to it’s usefulness as a protection against evil… Zatanna can tell it’s the real thing. She now lays the arrowhead flat in her palm, staring down at it. “I do love it, Emiko. I really do. And you’re right about it, this is the real thing. Not like some trinket someone sells you and says it’s ‘lucky’. There’s real mysticism at work here. Maybe later I can show you the actual hexes it has on it.” She looks back to Emiko as she smiles still. “Your elders seem real smart. Buuuuuuut” she starts as she glances towards Emiko’s bed “Your spare one.. mebbe when we get time later we can cleanse it for you. Ya see, crystals like this have a memory. And if was stolen” she shakes her head motioning to Emiko with her hand “no judging or anything.. but if it was stolen, it might not work as effectively. So… so…”

Zatanna’s voice trails off and she looks in the direction of the common room, as if she had just heard something. “Hmph” she says softly, both hands moving to grasp the necklace. She looks back to Emiko, smiling again for her. And as she does, she puts the necklace on around her own neck “But all that mumbo jumbo can wait. Others’re probably waiting for us.” She motions her to follow, and strides right into the common room. Her stride is a little more than casual, her eyes discretely scanning left and right as she moves.

With Emiko right behind her, she walks into the common room just in time to see Courtney also emerge. She listens to the girl, and now thinks she was being paranoid a few moments ago. She thought she felt something, some shift of energy. Barely there, but there. Probably her imagination, her excitement from the day thus far. “Let’s go!” She exclaims as she thrusts a hand into the air, now moving with the group through the doorway.

And almost instantly she knows what she had sensed earlier. The moment she is only just clear of the threshold, she freezes. But it’s already far to late for her to go back. She feels the way they got here is gone now, just like that. Without hesitation she thrusts her hand (with her wand in it) and exclaims “tcere ym enac----” but she suddenly falls silent, her voice just simply… gone. Her lips move as she tries to speak again, but nothing comes out. In a panic she stumbles back and away from the group, dropping her wand as her hands come up to grasp her throat. Her lips continue to move as if she were speaking, but no words come from her. She is breathing just fine, nothing seems wrong aside from the fact her voice has been stolen. Her cheeks redden as she starts to panic, as her breathing gets faster and shorter, tears rimming her eyes suddenly.
 
Pamela Isely & Harley Quinn

The subject of the moment was Liana vines when Pam was forced to take her attention away at the arrival of Courtney Whitmore, the woman who had ushered off Gwynn before they all came here. It was no surprise why the faculty were sending her to be their welcome wagon. That smile set Pam at-ease about this whole transition, and made her wonder what subject Ms. (or was it maybe Mrs?) Whitmore taught.

Harley had taken notice of Connor and RJ shifting their attentions to Dinah, and frowns as she feels ignored.

Gee, ya would think a pretty girl in a skirt would get more attention than another in a tanktop...No no Harley, don't get that way, ya know when ya get to thinkin like that bad stuff happens to people who don't really deserve it. Like blondie stealing my....no there ya go again...just let it go pretty girl...

The girl then starts to hum 'I Feel Pretty' and look up at the ceiling. Megan the telepath would get a feeling of anxiety coming off Harley in those moments before the door opens and Courney announces herself. Harely sits up from the couch and gives Courtney a wave. Anxiety mostly gives way to joy for now. "Alright! Wait till ya see what other cool stuff we got here!" Harley exclaims getting off the couch and trotting out after Courtney.

Pamela folds the corner of the page she was reading, sets it on top of the bookshelf and follows the others out of the common room. She really hopes that in all this, they have a large garden of some kind to occupy herself with in her downtime. Reading about plants and having some under her bedroom window was all fine, but already Pam wanted more greenery in her life here. If not then she plans to go out to the surrounding forest and make a little home away from home that is also away from home out there. Out of a new habit, she catches up to Dinah and walks beside her, so the two pass the threshold at the same time.

And immediately, Pam knows there is something very wrong, because she suddenly feels the absence of even ambient solar energy around her as day is suddenly night. Then there were the smells, the sounds, and the feel of a city. The cold lifelessness of tar, concrete, bricks and metal overwhelming the energy of The Green she had felt around the academy grounds.

"What's going on?" Pam asks Dinah in particular as her roommate points out that this is Gotham City. Which is miles away from the Academy.

Right about that time Harley comes in behind the pair and just before Zatanna, and also stops in her tracks as she feels the hard concrete of the alley under her feet instead of the softer sound of hitting wood floors. "Huh?" The girl looks around, and seeing the same familiar skyline as Dinah has a less than dignified reaction: a squeal of terror. Pam whips around to the smaller girl with wide eyes.

"No no no no noooo...." Harley skitters to the shadow of a nearby dumpster and huddles there, knees to her chest looking around frantically "I shouldn't be here....I can't be here....if he catches me here he's gonna be so maaad..."

"Harley?" Pam takes on step towards Harley when her attention is caught by Zatanna having her own, arguably even worse reaction to this turn of events. Was she also having a panic attack? Certainly looks that way with how she's just as speechless as Harley is now gibbering. She is torn between who to help, but goes for Harley with a plan to help Zatanna afterwards. She kneels before the smaller girl and is careful to put her hands on her shoulders without touching skin. In her state, Pam worries her poisonous touch was triggered. "Harley? What's wrong? Who are you afraid of?"

"Batman. Batman's gonna put me away if he catches me back in Gotham again." Harley answers still looking up and around.

"Batman? Why would he do that?" Pam asks, not really knowing who this Batman is. Harley just shakes her head in response. So Pam asks the group who aren't having a panic attack "Anyone know who this Batman is and why she's so afraid of him?" while massaging Harley's shoulders to get her to calm down.
 
Conner Kent

Conner caught the small smile forming on Dinah's face when he saw that she noticed him looking at her. He just put his head back and smiled as his eyes closed. So far, nothing really exciting had happened and that was a refreshing turn of pace from the lab where there was always something going on or always some test he had to do each day. He let out a big sigh of relief as he realized he wouldn't have to do all those tests again for a while. It was nice to just relax some.

Or so he thought...

Not even 10 mins of resting his eyes, a woman entered the common area and announced herself as Courtney, one of our teachers at the school. Conner opened up one of his eyes and looked at her while she talked. She wanted all of us to follow her but she didn't really say to where or to what end. Conner watched though as Dinah was first to follow the women with Pam right close next to her. After them, it was Harley and Zatana walking through. If Conner was halfway paying attention, he would have noticed that they had basically disappeared after passing through the doorway. He stood and walked to follow the group, not worrying about the others as he would assume they would catch up.

Conner walked through the archway of the door and what he found on the other side, was far from what he was expecting. He lifted his head up from staring at the ground and saw the girls all huddled up, looking scared or frightened. They had a right to be though as Conner realized, they were no longer at the school, but in some kind of alleyway in a city. He quickly changed his attitude and surveyed the area and the girls there already. Dinah looked to be doing the same thing as she seemed to ready to take on whatever would come. Looking around, he saw that Pam was comforting a curled up Harley and Zatana was on the ground trying to scream but no sound was coming to her. Conner listened as they all spoke. Dinah said they were in Gotham. How did they get here then? Magic? Wouldn't surprise him given Zatana could use magic basically. Then he heard Pam say something about if anyone knew who Batman was. Conner froze a bit at this.

"I have heard, rumors of him. The people at the lab don't like to mention his name as it brings, fear into there eyes. No one has seen him but like I said, he is a rumor."

Superman was supposed to be a "rumor" as well but Conner knew he was real. Wouldn't surprise him that his, Batman, guy was real too.

Conner looked around the area and stepped over to Zatana. He kneeled down to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Relax. Breathe. We can't figure this out if you are having a panic attack. Relax." He wasn't the best at this as he learned to compose himself in stressful situations but it didn't hurt to try and help. When she seemed to calm herself a bit, he helped her up and gave her a smile. He walked over to Dinah and asked her, "What do you want to do now? We have to get everyone settled and figure out a plan." Conner wanted to take point but he figured the girls would respond better to Dinah than him.
 
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“Oh, hey!” RJ says very surprised when Barry is suddenly right there with his hand out and shakes his head. “Yeah, and I promise I don't snore. Too loud at least.” He jokes and watches a quick but peculiar thing happen when Anselle and Barry shake hands. He could swear he saw literal sparks fly between their hands, and Anselle look like he was a cartoon who just drank a whole pot of coffee.

Okay he's more than a glow worm. Have to add that to his notes.

This is over just as quick as it happened, and RJ shrugs "Talk morel later." And resumes his search for some kind of hidden room, now with the very enthusiastic Anselle joining him. Yet again he witnesses the smaller guy using his power; to test a section of wall.

How did that work? Was he able to detect things that way as well? That would certainly be handy in getting along in an investigation.

RJ doesn't have time to ask Anselle the particulars of his power, much as he wanted to, because about then Courtney Whitmore came to collect them for the rest of their orientation. He claps his hands and says to Anselle "Movin' out little buddy." And he takes a certain joy in saying that to someone else, as opposed to being the one called 'Little buddy'. He happens to come up beside Megan, and takes the opportunity to introduce himself to her properly. She was another one of the more interesting of his classmates after all.

"Hey there, Roy Raymond Jr, but you can call me RJ. Late to the party." He looks at her intently, trying to catch anything in her face that could be a tell for what she really could do.

Is this her default setting? Or just another disguise? Is she looking at me and figuring out how to copy me too? Is it just skin deep what she can do that with?

He is so focused on Megan that his normally observant eyes miss that the first five people out of the room had disappeared completely. He only reaches forward with his arm to catch the door just before it closes and push it back open as he talks to Megan. "So excuse me if this is too personal, but is that hair color natural or dyed? I just ask cause it....looks...unreal..." He says trying to sell the question as a flirtatious one rather than investigative, but trails off as he notices that beyond Megan is a brick wall, smells the all-to-familiar funk of an alley in the bad part of Gotham, and the cold of night. "Whoa now.." He looks around, up, and knows the tower off in the distance before Dinah points it out to the others. Then of course Zatanna and Harley have their adverse reaction to this sudden change of venue. He thinks to answer who Batman is, and why Harley would be afraid of him, but thinks better of outing Harley as a former criminal right now.

"She's afraid of Batman because frankly, guy means well but is a real hard ass. Probably caught her jaywalking or something." RJ explains with a touch of real anger even saying the name, and goes for Zatanna since Harley seems to be in Pam's care for now. He goes up to Zatanna and puts his hands up to get her attention before speaking.

"Hey now hey....calm down...watch me breathe.." He puts one hand on his chest and takes slow breaths "In.....out....in...out...alright let me look.." He gets one step closer to look at her neck.

"Okay good no bleeding or bruising...but do you feel anything wrong here?" He asks pointing at his own throat. When it becomes apparent she can't talk for some reason, he reaches back to get his notepad and pen out of his back pocket, flipping it to some clear pages and holding both out to her.

"So. You can't talk? That's what's freaking you out right? It's okay, it's okay, you can borrow these to talk until we figure out what the hell's going on." He is a little apprehensive about handing over his notes, but really the notes he's made aren't mean or anything even if she does read them. With the exception of Harley's notes of course, so he hopes Zatanna doesn't pry.
 
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Anselle.
[Interaction]
RJ: @Not_Amy
Pamela, Harley: @Ms.Ezra
Everyone @everyone
If there was one thing Anselle was showing, it was his persistence. Inch by inch, wall by wall, Anselle checked the room for anything resembling an old door - if that's what he was looking for. As much as he'd love to find a secret room, just what gave one away was still a mystery to him. Anselle was sure it'd be obvious once he was in one, but that was excitement for another time.

By the time the lady that had whisked Gwynn came back again, this still beckoning them, Ansell thought he was onto something. On the far wall, his fingers, rather than his knuckles, slid across what he thought was an impression; a slight seam to the wall. He could only spare a few moment to trace over it, brows furrowing in confusion and interest. And then he stepped away, making a note in his mind to give that part of the room a decent knock. Eyes coming from the wall and lighting up at RJ's new nickname for him, Anselle gave a rolling chuckle. He knew he was small, but it was still funny.

Once again, they were moving out, as RJ called it. Though he seemed to have thoroughly checked the common room, Anselle's eyes still wandered the walls of the hallway, looking for secret, ah, giveaways? Things that didn't belong? Doorknobs? Again, secret rooms were very aptly named. As they walked, the guide whistled, Anselle let his mind drift.

He couldn't see much beyond everyone, but they to be filling in through a door, Anselle going through it and - what? Anselle's mind caught up but it felt like his eyes were tricking him. They'd gone into a room, it had to be a room, but all he saw was a city. They were in a city, and suddenly it was night.

Anselle shook his head, peering around at the cloud-piercing buildings, the sky as dark as can be, the room they'd entered nothing more than an alley. He turned around, and what was there was a wall, brick and looking nothing like a door. Anselle scratched at a temple, confusion returning to him as he looked around the alley. "Uhh, what's- what's goin' on here?" He asked aloud, eyes landing on the group until he found Zatanna and Harley, each of them looking on the verge of crying. That got his attention, Anselle letting out an abrupt squeak at their distress. He came close, not too close, and put his hands out to them. A few of them had already gathered around the two, Pamela tending to Harley who was ready to have a fit over some Batman. Anselle shook his head, nothing about the name ringing any bells.

"H-hey, hey, hey! Don't panic, okay! Thi-this is a little scary but, ah," Anselle's mind raced for an answer, something that would make sense when everything else wasn't. Think, what could this be? Were they kicked out already? Was it about what happened in the gym? No, that couldn't be right. But what was? Not this room - alley, but...wait.

Anselle swallowed, the seize of panic in his eyes melting into something different, his eyes locked on where they'd came from. "This...this can't be real. No, I'm sure it isn't." He stood, walking from the panicking girls to the wall, his hands falling on it and feeling brick. What if-

Ansell turned back around, an unsure look on his face. "Guys, I don't this is a real alley." Hands immediately going out, Ansell's brows raised. "Hear me out, 'cause I know that sounds crazy." Hands folding together, he wrung his fingers, obviously nervous about saying what was going to sound mad. "Okay, so RJ and I believe there was, or maybe are, secret rooms to this place and-" Taking a quick look around, Anselle ignored the obvious.

"I know this doesn't look like one, bu-but think about it! How in the world could we get from a room to the middle of the city in, three seconds?!" Hands going in the air, Ansell exclaimed. "We couldn't! That makes no sense! And I think that door would be a lot longer to reach, but anyway, I think we're in a secret room!" Anselle's mouth went into a grimace, staring back at the not-door. "A room that lies." This secret room, if that were the case, sucked. "R-remember what that lady said? She was taking us to the next part of our ororation - orenation - ori- tour. She was taking us to the next part of the tour." Anselle gave a heaving shrug, throwing his hands up again. "What if this is it? What if, I don't know, they're challenging us or something?"
 
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Megan

Megan is enjoying hanging out with this group of kids. She is relaxing and warching when Dinah comes in. Now to Megan, when Dinah comes in, it is something like a display. A very subtle display, much to the dismay of her roomate Harley. Megan is about to offer some calming influence when teacher Whitmore comes in to gather them up for more orientation.

As the are gathered and begin marching off together, she finds herself walking next to Roy or RJ. She is very happy with this at first...

"Hello I am Megan"

She finds his man boy influenced mental state quickly replaced by curiousity and a mental state of inquiry. It was as if he was suddenly all mental gears & springs and she was something to study.
Then there was the nasty crack about her un natural hair. This did cause her face to be briefly scrunched up as she was quite upset with him.

Then she noticed....smells, the bricks.. Night!. Her eyes were configure differently than human. She saw things very clearly in this alley. She might have noticed earlier if she hadn't been distracted by stupid Roy. Then she was hit by the anguish of Zatana and Harley.

It took her a few moments to build resistance to this (to her) brutal mental onslaught. She moved a bit unsteadily and squeezed in next to Pam so she could comfort Harley. She had to act quickly before the mental howl of her two classmates began to affect her. She could see an image of a darkly dressed man in a costume for Harley's terror.

"It's going to be okay Harley. Anyone comes for you is going to have to come through me first."

Now touching her roomates hand, Megan share her own emotions of care, and calming ease with her roomate. Now it is possible that Pam might get some part of this. But Megan couldn't wait or hold back nor take her time without risking her own mind starting to gibber and squeal too.
 
Barry

Barry had started to introduce himself to a few of the others. He made a mental note to stear clear of enthusiastic Ansell. Touching the other young man made him feel weird. Thankfully the feeling was relatively brief.

They were of course, scooped up by Courtney Whitmore for more orientation.
So he falls into his partially zoned out, walk in slow motion thing and joins the rest of the group.

Being in this state he didn't notice until too late that the venue had changed. He tried to run back through the way they had came, only to have it disappear as he got there.

He did try running back to the mansion, but he ended up right back here. Staying clear for the moment from Ansell, he did hear and agree mostly with his opinion.

" Ansell might be right. This could be some sort of test. Also a small possibilty this could have been done by enemies?"

Barry didn't elaborate, but his mind drifted to powerful white colored aliens with mental powers he had seen on the channel 5 sci fi marathon the previous weekend. His money was on Fate though. Though, it was unlikely he was going to willingly follow anyone looking like Courtney Whitmore anywhere any time soon!

"Connor, Dinah, some of us should start keeping an eye out. Being suprised in this alley wouldn't be anyone's idea of fun. "
 
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Emiko Queen / Red Arrow


One moment, Emiko was enjoying a pleasant conversation with her roommate; trading gifts and life stories. It had seemingly gone well and the pair had joined the rest of their group in the common room only to walk down a hall and be magically dropped into a dark and dirty alley in the middle of the night. It was an extremely jarring experience, one that Emiko did not care for.

“What the hell...” she muttered under her breath, taking in the sight around her. The sky was dark and ominous, as if it was sign of something dangerous. The alley had a pungent odor, and Emiko found herself scrunching up her nose in reaction to the smell.

The cry from Harley and panic on Zatanna’s face brought her attention back to reality. Their situation was quite upsetting to Emiko, particularly Zatanna’s, but unlike the others Emiko did not move towards them. The other students had rushed to their aid, and as much as she would like to help, there was nothing Emiko could do for them currently that was not already being done. Her skills would be more useful in other aspects, such as figuring out what was going on and what to do next. She knew that many of them would be afraid, but situations like this where were Emiko excelled. She had trained for it all her life, and her training had never failed her.

“C’mon Emiko. Think. Breathe. What do I do?” In situations like this, The Outsider Creed always came back to her, and she whispered it to herself quietly. It was the first thing she had been taught as a child, and it gave her strength and affirmed her confidence in herself and her abilities.

“Through power made whole.
No fear is found in me.
My mission remains the goal,
In strength and death;

I see.”


With her spirit steeled for whatever was to come, the young girl began looking around. Kneeling down, Emiko dipped two fingers into a muddy puddle near one of the dumpsters, bringing her fingers up to her face for a closer inspection. It was cold, dirty and wet; the basic properties of mud. This meant that this was either some sort of extremely advanced simulation, or they really were in Gotham City as Dinah had mentioned. Emiko hoped the latter was false. Reaching around her back, her hands grasped at nothingness, reminding her she had left her bow and quiver under her bed.

“Damn..This isn’t good.”

Harley’s mention of Batman caused a visible stir amongst the group. Emiko had heard rumors of such a being, but she had no idea if they were true or not. As Emiko glanced around the alley, she listened intently to the sounds of the city as well as the students nearby. Anselle’s suggestion of their situation being a challenge irked her. She had been through many trials and challenges during her training, and none of them were pleasant. When Barry suggested they stay vigilant and watch out, Emiko nodded in agreement.

“If this is a test like Anselle says, we need to be ready for conflict in whatever form its presented as. Stick together. We will get through this."


@Everyone
 
Dinah’s instincts now start to kick in… it’s this kind of thing she’s been training for all of these years. This kind of unknown is what her father tried to drill into her to be prepared for. Okay maybe not this kind of thing, but still. Dinah’s eyes snap towards first Zatanna, and then Harley as they both seem to start freaking out. Not a good start. And then before she knows it… Conner and then Barry look to her for what they should do. Shit… she has to do something…

Her eyes narrow as she suddenly remembers something, something clicks in her mind. Conner is standing near her, waiting for an answer. But she half turns to look back towards the opening of the alley… Loqerquist Towers, the landmark she used to determine they were in Gotham… or at least an approximation of Gotham. They’re facing the east side of the tower (she can tell by the orientation of the upper levels and spire of the building)… so that means… she knows where they are. She now looks up slowly along the darkened alley… and she speaks as she looks back towards the group.

“We’re in trouble.”


She says simply, her hands clenching into fists. Now her heart starts to beat faster, but not from fear. But something else, determination perhaps. She steps past Conner as she now frowns to herself.



Zatanna looks up at RJ as he speaks, her wide fearful eyes just staring at him, as if pleading for him to do something to help. Her eyes close a little as she focuses on him, as she controls her breathing a bit better now. More calmly. He asks if she feels anything wrong, and she shakes her head immediately, still grasping her throat. He offers her the notepad as Anselle offers his theory. Barry and Emiko seem to half agree with him. She looks towards Harley, and those trying to comfort her. She is about to start writing on the notepad… but then realizes she can’t see it all that well. After all, they are in an alley and it’s night. She looks to the pen she is holding, and she brings it closer to her lips. She blows on it gently, and then starts to write on the notepad. As she does, the words she writes glow a gentle orange color. As if written in a gentle neon. She then grabs RJ by his shirt to get his attention, and holds the notepad up to him, her eyes asking him to read it to the others. Eyes of Horus! Magic gate!’ she brings the notepad closer once again and writes in gently glowing letters. ‘all real! Time shifted!’ She holds the notepad up to him again as the first of the words begin to fade.



“Pay attention”
Dinah says in a firm tone. “We’re in Bane’s territory. And we’re already surrounded.” Of course she doesn't think that most of them won't even know who Bane is. She half turns to look back towards the opening of the alley… just as some shadowed men step into it. Confirming Dinah’s thoughts. She stares at them as she continues. “They hunt in packs of three.. probably have some kinda night vision gadgets.. mostly use power fists and molotov cocktails. We’re way outnumbered, and the odds’re getting worse the longer we stay here.” She now points to Barry “You, fast boy! Along these old buildings there’s bound to be old fire escapes. Find one with a ladder low enough for everyone to climb up. Go now. The rest of you…” she takes a deep breath as she continues “Get to that ladder, and make your way to the roof. You’ll have a better shot up there… fire escape will at least bottle neck ‘em. I promise you’re gonna have to fight to get to it though.” She then points towards Harley and Zatanna. “They’ll go for those two first. But Emiko’s right… stay together and you’ll probably get through this.” She doesn’t sound as sure as Emiko did. Dinah now turns to Conner, and she gets right into his face as she speaks in a low and serious tone. “Listen to me ‘Superboy’” she says that with a little attitude “Your only job is to keep them safe.” She points towards the others as she stares at Conner. “I heard Superman was strong or whatever.. so I hope you are too. You… don’t… let… ANYone… lay a hand on them.” She then puts her finger to his chest in a poking fashion “Keep. Them. Safe.”

Dinah once more glances to the group as she frowns to herself. “Get moving, people. I’ll catch up. First gotta say hi to the fellas.” Without another word she now turns, and she strides towards the opening of the alley, now three fairly large men standing there. They are all clad in matching outfits, their hands having mechanical knuckles affixed to them. Their ‘power fists’, allowing them to smash bricks with ease.
bapofi001.jpg


Zatanna slowly pushes herself to her feet when she is singled out by Dinah, still holding the notepad and pen in one hand. Her other hand lightly grasping her throat. She looks down at herself as she scowls, still feeling tears at the corners of her eyes. She looks to RJ and taps his arm to get his attention. She tucks his notepad and pen into the pocket of the tux top she wears, hoping he understands she’ll keep it safe and give it back to him. She then leans down and scoops up her wand, and she flicks it lightly. When she does, the tip of the wand begins to glow in a soft amber, similar color to a candle. It’s not terribly bright, but bright enough that it might make it easier to navigate in this darkness. She moves closer to those gathered around Harley, not wanting to make any of them an easy target…
 
Pamela Isely & Harley Quinn

"So way more than a rumor, and a well-meaning jerk. Gotcha." Pam scrunches her brow once she got the lowdown on who/what this 'Batman' is. Why would he have scared Harley so much though? Sure, Pam could see how Harley could be annoying but not criminally so. She can't help but think he was one of those guys her father warned her about, the 'fascist pigs' he would rant about if he had a little too much of his own product. Anselle's theory on what was going on seems sound to her, even if she's having a hard time believing this is just a room of the mansion. Zatanna could confirm or deny this, but as it was the other girl was still freaking out and in no position to confirm or refute this. It was good of RJ to take point in calming her down though.

Pam and Harley lock eyes, and the smaller girl is calmed some by that and the gentle massage. Megan comes to assist, and then Pam suddenly feels more calm than before at the same time Harley lets out a long sigh and relaxes her shoulders.

“Gee, thanks! I feel loads better!” She stands up and hugs Megan, then Pam without warning. "Thank ya Reds!"

"Um, you're welcome." Pam says, startled by the sudden contact not because of a personal bubble per say, but because she is worried of poisoning Harley and yet the girl lets go, and shows no sign of anything harming her. Curious. "Are you okay now?" She asks.

"Better! Buuuuut I really shouldn't be for real." Harley replies and looks up and down the alley, then at everyone who puts in their two cents up to Emiko, then Zatanna through RJ. "No offense to everyone, but if this a real test or whatever, Batsy is like a real bruiser and we oughtta stay clear of him. I've seen him take mooks bigger than Connor." She tells them, and then Dinah announces to everyone exactly where they have been placed. Harley grimaces and groans as said thugs of Bane show up "Ahhhh great, these muscleheads..."

"Big guys, biiig trouble." Pam says looking down the alley at them. "What if we..." She starts to say looking down the other side, but three more of the brutes show up there and start lumbering towards them. "Nevermind." Pam reaches for her neck, but realizes she had left her seaweed scarf/whip back in her room. She'd been very distracted.

Why do I have such a weakness for blondes? She asks herself.

"Don't worry Red. You helped me, I'll help you!" Harley steps in front of Pam and puts her fists up, starts to bounce on her feet like a boxer. "Don't got my mallet, but I can give a good whooping anyway." She says with all confidence, in spite of all five feet of her serving as no real visual shield for the taller Pamela.

"You're in our territory kids." Says one of the thugs coming up to Dinah's side of the group. "Ain't nobody told you there's a toll for rolling through our turf on foot?" He asks shaking his head. "Pay up all ya got, nobody gets hurt. That simple."

“Ah shoot! Here I forgot all my gold at home.”
Harley cackles and stares down the group headed towards them from the other side. “Guess that means we gotta do this the hard way.”

Pam reaches her hand out towards the dumpster, hoping for some kind of plant matter she could fashion into something like a weapon or defense. She feels only fetid lettuce, tomatoes and other rotting parts. Her seaweed trick from earlier might have done something, but that was during the day. This is night, and Pam feels markedly less lively and less able to pull off the same trick here without even the ambient sunlight of the daytime...

"You heard her." The apparent leader of this small group says "Let's make big brother Bane proud." He whistles and both groups charge them.
 


Anselle's theory reaches RJ's ears and he wishes he had thought of it first. Probably would have if he hadn't been so concerned about Zatanna, he rationalizes to himself. But he doesn't have time to voice his own theory that this could be an illusion. A very realistic illusion. Zatanna takes his pen and pad, and wants her own voiced. The words are even about as flashy as her entrance earlier.

“Eyes of Horus. Magic gate.” He recites to the others first, then “"All real. Time shifted?” He struggles to make sense of this for himself and the others. He isn't too knowledgeable of Horus, but pieces together an explanation based on what he does know.

“Okay, so Zatanna thinks, um, this is all real, and we walked through a magic gate into nighttime. If that's the case, then why was Barry only able to run right back here? Can't be just time travel.” He says her theory, then offers some counterpoints. “I mean no offense, just doesn’t add up.” He tells Zatanna. Dinah speaks up, getting everyone's attention, and on hearing that they were in Bane's territory RJ says under his breath"Son of a...". He knows of Bane and his Boys as they call themselves. There were the regular street gangs, then there was others like Bane's Boys. He'd seen them on his patrols, but never been up close before. The whole idea of getting hit with a hand-mounted steel press was not on his bucket list.

Hearing Dinah's instructions to Barry, RJ takes them himself and looks around for any fire escapes drawing on his experience getting around this city. He's interuppted for a moment by Zatanna showing him she would keep his stuff close, and gives her a thumbs-up then resumes searching.

"Found one!" He announces to the others and points to one, but it's down the alley and was going to be behind the three walls of meat and steroids before most could get to it. "Craaap." He grits his teeth, looks around. "Gotta do, what ya gotta do." He sees Harley take a boxing stance, and is not surprised she's willing to fight these guys.

Probably had a scuffle or two with them before since The Joker did have his own gang.

He steels himself for the fight coming their way. Under the usual conditions, it was the element of surprise and some help from his homemade gadgets and weapons that gave him a slight edge on normal criminals. These were not normal criminals; he had none of his equipment; and they had the element of surprise. About they only thing they had going for them was two more in numbers, and these guys probably weren't expecting the powers a couple of them were packing.

Which could be all they needed if used properly.

"Hey little buddy, Zatanna. More light would be nice about now!" He says to his teammates. "And I mean alot, real quick!"

Presuming either of them took his meaning that he requested a flash-bang type thing to distract the goons, RJ locks onto one and closes the distance in the flash(es) that ensue. He goes behind the guy, gets in a low kick to his left knee. The guy buckles onto that one knee, and RJ takes that opening to take a shot at the back of his neck, right at the top of the spine. His fist connects. With a thick lump of muscle that hurts RJ more than it hurts the thug. RJ recoils, and that moment lets the thug counter with a simple but hard swipe of his arm that knocks RJ onto his back. He hits the pavement, nearly has the wind knocked out of him, but isn't dazed enough to be out of commission. Yet.

"Gonna pay for that runt!" The thug yells coming at the downed RJ and punches down on him. RJ rolls aside just in time, kicks at his armpit and side. The kicks don't hurt as much as planned, but enough the thug groans and recoils giving him the chance to scramble to his feet and book it to the fire escape. With the running start, RJ jumps just high enough to grab hold of the bottom rail and bring it down with him as he climbs up. Of course the thug lumbers after him, more angry than calculating as he climbs up to chase him.

"Not too smart!" RJ kicks him full in his masked face, making the big lug fall off the ladder onto his back. RJ takes a little bit to get his breath back, and feel for any injuries from the swipe he got just before but yells back at his teammates "Up here! Hurry!" He winces and grabs the leg he'd kicked the guy in the face with. "Man all hard muscle, and harder bones, on these guys."
 
Anselle.

[Interactions]
Dinah, Zatanna: @Camleen
Barry: @Gands
Emiko: @QuakeUPSB
Harley, Pamela: @Ms.Ezra
RJ: @Not_Amy
Anselle's eyes flicked between the group, wanting on any one of them to speak up, to add their own thoughts to his. He - wasn't sure his idea was right, but he was all ears for anything else. Anything that made sense. His stare went to Barry, his brow bunching at the idea of enemies - what enemies - being behind it.

"Do you, uh, have a lot of enemies?" Anselle asked, honestly. Who had enemies? That was - childish, right? Yeah, he really didn't like that idea. Had they been among enemies the whole time? Was it Courtney? That would explain a lot.

Anselle shook his head, leaving those particular thoughts behind as Emiko spoke up, sounding more sure of herself than he did. He nodded at her, an uneasy expression on his face. He...really didn't feel good, he was getting nervous and he - breathe. They'd be fine, he'd be fine. He pushed himself away from the wall, walking closer to the group, a warming smile coming to his face. "Y-yep! We're still together an-and-" Anselle's head snapped towards the entrance of the alley, Dinah's silhouette tense.

Anselle licked at his lips, trying to mouth a what before - uh oh. At the mouth of the alley, stood three huge figures that hadn't been there before. He overheard RJ talking at the silenced Zatanna, catching an orange glow from the corner of his eye. RJ recited - something. It was odd enough to look at the boy, and judging by the look on RJ's face, he was just as confused as Anselle was. He kept his gaze ahead, to Dinah, to the men beyond her. Anselle's stomach roiled with tension, nearly tasting bile as Dinah started talking - warning them.

Bane. Again, he'd never heard of a Bane, he'd never heard of night vision anything, he'd never heard of cocktails or power fists. The situation was getting more and more unfamiliar as the figures built an imposing wall of muscle at the alley's end. Were - were they going to have to fight?

Anselle crept away from the group as Dinah explained her plan, closer to the blonde in case of sudden...rowdiness. Anselle stuck out a hand, a stressed grimace he forced into a smile, slowly reaching for Dinah's shoulder. He bit his lip at one of the towering men's demand of their valuables, Harley answering from behind, the girl looking ready and eager to get at the man. Even Pamela beside her was on her guard. Anselle let out a nervous laugh. "You wouldn't be up for a trade, would you?"

They weren't. One of them mentioned Bane as their - brother? God, these his brothers? Oh, and then they came running. Now, maybe it was just his perspective, but the sight of that much swollen muscle with the intent to fight them was frightening. Anselle winced, a scared yelp forced out of him. Behind him, RJ called for him by his nickname and asked for some light. Anselle's features cringed in confusion, then understanding.

Oh. Oh, obviously.

Anselle's hands balled into fists, violet emerging from his skin, shining through his clothes as violet turned to a brilliant, blinding light. The alley was positively alight, as if day had came back in an instant. And in an instant, it was over, light receding back into Anselle.

The thugs that had neared him - hadn't paused in their charge of him, yet they were off balance; clumsy, and, oh, maybe blinded. They ran at him, and Anselle hopped to the side with only a small squeak. They - kept going. Wow, they really couldn't see. The two of them crashed into each other with a solid thud. Frustrated, unseeing, the two separated with a shove, the strange gloves they were whirling at the motion. One of them scrubbed at his eyes, the other throwing a reckless punch at the air.

"Goddamnit, can't- I can't fuc-"

"Excuse you, language!" Anselle shouted, hands immediately slapping over his own mouth. Oops. The bully brothers both turned to the sound of his voice, crowding in on him, blinking heavily and squinting at him. Matching grins came to their faces, pulling up their heavy hands and clanking them together, the sound echoed in Anselle's ears.

"Puny one, ain'tcha?" One of them said, scraggly stubble across a scared chin, dark hair cut to his just as scared scalp.

Anselle's face burned, pulling his shoulders tight, raising his hands as he prepared to - do this. "And you're big, what's your point?!" That got a laugh out of both of them, Anselle watching them as they reached for him. Anselle jumped back, or tried to. The taller of the two grabbed him by the collar, flannel fraying under the strength of his grip. The other brought back his fist, so-called power fist grinding as he readied what was going to be quite the punch.

"Hold 'im, still, bro," he said, knuckles cracking under his rough flex. "Think we found a brand new punching bag."

He changed his mind, he didn't want to get punched anymore. "No! I'm not a punching bag!" Whatever that was, it didn't sound pleasant. Anselle's hands found the metal glove keeping around his collar, the b- brute lifting him with ease, though his collar suffered another seam for it. "Let go! Let go!" Anselle struggled, body flashing, the brutes squinting to avoid another blinding.

The eager-to-punch-him one gave a mean chuckle at the sight of him, Anselle's legs swinging wildly underneath him, not even able to kick at his captor from the man's damn long arms. A sharp whirling caught his attention, Anselle's eyes snapping towards the other brother, his fist flying right at his exposed side. Anselle closed his eyes and braced himself for the shot at his ribs.

It hit with a thud, a sharp crack of metal on flesh, what should've been bone shattering was merely light. Violet burst around the thug's gloved hand, Anselle's face still in a cringe, but unharmed. He let out a breath he'd been holding all at once, the stare he set on the bolder of the thug's was one that was glowing. Anselle balled his own fists, hands clasped around his captor's own power fist. "Alright, let go!" Anselle squeezed, and the metal bent under his grip. The thug let out a shout, pain forcing his hand open, Anselle dropping to his fist and all but bouncing away from the thugs.

"Sorry about your hand, but you guys are too rough!" Anselle said, facing the two again, both of them looking as furious as ever. "And-" Anselle held his collar, fabric frayed to shreds. "My shirt, you beast." And like beasts, the two yelled and charged him, Anselle steeling himself and readying for the hit.

Metal fists poised to strike, Anselle followed the brother's gloves, reaching up to grab them and hold them there. Anselle's arms shook for a moment, his grip unsteady, and then he pushed back, the muscles in the brute's arms trembling at the the sudden show of strength.

"The hell? Hey, hey!" The taller one tried to free his hand, Anselle's grip on his glove close to vice-like, even as the brute yanked away. "Let go!"

"Kid's gotta be some kinda super! He's- breaking my hand!" The other groaned, face showing his pain as Anselle continued to crush the glove, pressure ramping up every second.

Anselle scoffed at the idea. "I could, but broken bones suck, so-" Anselle began to glow, light flooding from his skin as he took a step back, dragging the brutes with him, thrusting his hands forward as a visible swell of force exploded from Anselle's hands, the brutes sent skidding back from the hit. "Yeah. Yeah, I'll just do that."
 
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Barry

{“You, fast boy! Along these old buildings there’s bound to be old fire escapes. Find one with a ladder low enough for everyone to climb up. Go now."} Barry heard the words, irked just a little that she couldn't remember his name.

" You got it bossy forgetful girl " His tone was friendly and teasing.

Immediately of course he was off. he couldn't run in here quite at full speed because of the lack of good light. In the first run through there were three useable fire escapes. There might have even been more. He went up the first one all the way up to the roof, no good, six guys up there looking around. He had no desire to alert these 6 of their situation too soon. Back down, only now RJ was on the fire escape going up. He zipped up to RJ.

"Nice work RJ, but there are six more up there. I am going around that corner to the left, there is another fire escape over there. I will screw these guys up a bit so you can get past them. Get the others down here right ? Good luck roomie!"

There was one muscle head coming up the ladder. He jumped off the landing and started to run down the wall, building up momentum. He grabbed the ladder above the Bane Boy, swinging around to kick the man. Both feet hit him in the side, This was done at great speed, the gang member had only time to grunt before flying off the ladder and landing on the other two.

"Hurry Bud, they won't stay tangled for long "

There was pain coming from one foot. He stood there for a moment and fought past the pain. On to the next fire escape to make sure that roof was less dangerous than this one. The fire escape was clear at least. With the pain in his foot, he was at about 2/3's speed now. Dangerous for him. Up to the next roof .
 
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Megan

Megan was delighted that her calming effect went so well. She gave both Pam and Harley a big hug. But just then a number of thugs got their attention. Part of Megan was thrilled, another part terrified. She had never fought anyone before. There had been a little training early in her life but it was without contact or competition. She supposed for a moment to feel like a superhero, she would have to look the part! .

As Harley hopped up between she and Pam and the bruisers, Megan hid a little behind her and using the darkness to cover what she was doing.

Out of the corner of Pam's eye, Megan can be seen changing.

1552773645008.png

With actress Lindsay Wagner's voice...

"Boys, I think you all need to leave these girls alone! " This was done with the proper voice and tone to sound like T.V's Bionic Woman. She steps up next to and slightly in front of Harley. She whispered..

" I'll take the first one Roomie "

Then indeed the first thug advances and takes a swing at Megan. Now Megan does remember that she has never fought anyone before, much less a set of large ugly and mean men. Megan freezes for just a moment. As the big thug swings she suddenly grabs his metal gloved hand and starts throwing him up into the air. Startled and with the way she suddenly twisted his wrist, the weird power fist gauntlet comes off into her hand. Megan is very pleased and a little startled at how well that worked! She even remembers to take a step back just as her opponent comes down out of the sky, crashing into the ground in front of her. The other two thugs seem to take a dim view of this though, and T.V. hero or not, they intend to pound Jaime Summers into meatloaf.

Now Megan, in her suddenly elated state and in her first real fight is kind of standing there staring at the man unconscious on the ground. She doesn't notice the other two bearing down on her. A word of warning from one of her allies alerts her and she half curls up into a ball with a squeak, as they start to pound on her. They are really enjoying themselves as the mechanical fist comes rolling out of Megan's hands and over in front of Harley.
 
Emiko Queen/ Red Arrow

It wasn’t pretty, but Emiko’s classmates had sprung into action. Their latest member, RJ, had fought his way to the nearest fire escape during the bright flash their teammates had caused and was calling for the rest of them to follow suit. Barry was up there in a flash, doing what he could to clear the roofs for an escape. Megan had disarmed one of the attackers with what appeared to be inhuman strength, although now she appeared to be in distress. Even Anselle, the odd looking kid that he was, had somehow managed to take on two of Bane’s men and still remain standing. Emiko wasn’t sure if he’d performed some sort of magic or trickery, but she wasn’t complaining. The higher their chance of survival the better, especially since Zatanna had confirmed that they really were in Gotham City and were fighting for their lives.

Emiko’s eyes darted across the faces of her teammates trying to judge their mental state. They soon came to stop on her newest friend. She wasn’t sure how Zatanna was doing, but her roommate seemed drained. Weakened. Emiko knew the group had to work together to make sure they all escaped. She wasn’t about to lose her newest friend on the first day. What kind of friend would that make her? Eyes focused on the approaching threat, Emiko grit her teeth. The team had already begun to make their move. It was her turn now.

“Let’s do this. We can’t stay here!” she yelled, breaking into a sprint.

Leaping onto one of the nearby dumpsters, the unarmed archer bolted towards one of the brutes, leaping off a garbage can and planting her foot square onto the man’s masked face, causing an audible groan. A quick push off found her on the ground behind him, where a swift kick to the back of his knee dropped him onto one leg. Turning around swiftly, Emiko launched a dropkick onto the downed thug’s back, causing him to fall onto his face. She knew it wouldn’t take him out, but the girl had a higher chance of success if she could fight one on one instead of against a large group. Kipping back up, Emiko jerked her head back violently as another thug swung wildly in her direction, barely missing her face. Emiko swore under her breath, continuing to back up as she dodged her newest assailant’s heavy hands. This was not an ideal situation by any means.

Looking for an opening, Emiko ducked a heavy cross, using her opponents extended arm as an anchor to swing around onto his back. locking her arms around his neck into a tight chokehold. The man’s neck was incredibly thick, but Emiko knew she had to try to subdue him. Her slim frame paired with his large back and massive arms allowed her to dodge his attempts to grab onto her, but time was running out. A second thug was already running at her, and there was no way she’d have time to put her opponent to sleep.

But she didn’t have to.

As Emiko tightened her hold, the thug began charging around rampantly in an attempt to get her off him. He slammed his back into the nearby buildings; hurled himself into the side of dumpsters, and did whatever he could to get free. Emiko could already feel her grip starting to slip from the exhaustion and constant beating.

If I let him go, we’ll be in a worse position than when we started, she thought to herself. At this point she wasn’t looking for the rest of her group. All her attention was focused on the target before her. She wondered if her teammates would judge her for what she was about to do. And yet, there was no time.

“How much longer...can you hold on?” the thug croaked out. “I can feel you losing your grip! Soon you will be mine. Once you let go I’m gonna crush your skull, and then your friends are next!”

Her choke was only weakening the longer she held on. Emiko didn’t have the strength to put this man to sleep passively and continue to fight an army. It was now or never.

“We’ll see about that. See you in hell, asshole.”

With a violent twist of her shoulders, Emiko snapped the man’s neck, silencing him permanently and dropping them both to the ground. Rolling off him with disgust, Emiko crawled to her feet.

“You killed him!” One of the thugs roared, causing three of Bane’s crew to begin charging at Emiko full force. “You’re not getting out alive!”

Using the nearby wall to help her stand, Emiko took her combat stance. She was drained. Bruised. Her back had multiple cuts on it, but thankfuily nothing life threatening. Emiko knew If she ran for the fire escape now she’d be caught before she ever reached it. So she raised her fists, fierce determination in her eyes and one statement on her lips.

“No fear is found in me.”
 
Conner Kent

Well, the situation has gone from bad to shit-show real quick. Conner did his best to survey what all was going on with the “team” while he was holding off the front with Dinah. Anselle arrived up front as well and Conner took this time to go help the others so that Dinah wouldn’t kill him later. He looked down the alley and luckily, he could see most of everyone due to the light show Anselle put on. Emiko was about to get punched in the face that looked like it would do some damage. Megan is getting punched on the ground by two guys. Harley, Pam, and Zantana seem fine for now. RJ is on a fire escape but looks to have taken some damage. Barry was on another escape and also seemed to be limping some. Conner quickly took everything in and prioritized each person.

Priority 1: Emiko

Emiko needed help first as the blow she was about to receive would injure her badly or kill her possibly. Planting his feet, Conner bent his knees and shot forward towards the thug. Just as the guy was about to bring down his fist to her face, it was stopped. Conner was gripping the metal hand with his left hand and began to crush it slightly as he tightened his grip. With his right hand, he pulled it back and punched the thug. The punch sent the guy flying back through the alleyway and smashing into a garbage can, knocking him out. Conner still had the glove in hand and tossed it to the ground. He looked over at the tired looking Emiko. She was banged up but no signs of life-threatening issues. He scooped her up into his arms and looked to where RJ was. Conner did another super jump and landed on the bars of the fire escape, setting Emiko down next to RJ. He looked over at him, “Get to the roof now! I’ll get the others and they will follow you up.” With that, he surveyed the area to find the next priority.

Priority 2: Megan, Harley, Pam, and Zatana.

He leaped down to the ground and looked to find the guys on Megan. Once he saw them, Conner bent his knees and did another jump towards them. This time though, he spread his arms out wide and crashed into the both of the thugs punching her. While he was on them, he gave them both a couple of punches to the gut to slow them up a bit. He hurried up and grabbed Megan from the ground, running over to the other girls. “Sorry for this.” Without letting them speak, he grabbed Harley in his other arm and jumped to the fire escape RJ and Emiko were climbing. He sat both girls down and quickly went back for Pam and Zantana. Grabbing them both, he jumped them to safety as well. “Follow RJ to the roof. I’ll be there soon.” Once back on the ground, the thugs had gotten back up and were not happy with Conner.

“You think you’re tough kid? You can’t save them. Once we knock you out, we will go right after them. Maybe even take our time with the pretty little girls. Haha.”

Well, that sent Conner into a nice little rage. Conner screamed at the guy who was talking and jumped forward. Two on one wasn’t a problem as Conner had done practice fights like this at the lab during testing of his strength. Conner sent a right jab into the guy's stomach while blocking the others guys hook coming down at this face. The one thug recovered quickly though and Conner took a jab to the face with the metal gauntlet. Conner was invincible but he could still feel pain and these metal power gloves sure hurt. Putting both hands up, Conner calmed down a bit and began to fight with some sense. One thug rushed him and looked to hit him with the glove again. Conner sidestepped him and brought down a left hook that connected with the guys face. The thug fell to the ground and his face connected with the pavement. The other thug thought he would have an upper hand attacking quickly like his buddy did but it didn’t work out well. Conner began to bob and weave the punches and finally found an opening. Conner delivered a right jab, then left jab, and straight into an uppercut, sending the guy flying back. Once the two were taken care of, he looked at the group moving up the fire escape. Bending his knees, he did another jump and landing on the railing where they were. He picked up Emiko from Rj and followed them up.

Conner looked over the railings and saw Dinah taking care of another thug. He took a mental note to remember not to mess with her as she knew how to fight it seemed. “Dinah! Move your ass. Come on!”
 
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Bossy.. that’s a word that Dinah is very familiar with. But if one would ask her, she would say she isn’t bossy really. She’s usually just… right. When she’s in a situation where she knows what the best course of action.. it makes sense for her to put that to work. And sometimes that means informing those around her as to what the best thing to do is. Since she’s usually on top of things before those around her. And when people move to slow, or move with indecision… that really annoys her. And so, she tells people what to do, for their own good!

At least that’s how she justifies being bossy in her mind.

She doesn’t seem to react to Anselle’s supportive gesture towards her. No, she begins to stride right towards the trio of larger men at the opening of the alley. And as she does, they seem amused. And why not? A girl that is trying to act like a tough chick.. how much trouble could she possibly be? The man in front speaks, the other two flanking him, all of them smirking under their masks. He goes into the company line… nearly the same as the group facing off the rest of the group. “Time to pay the toll, girly. Give us all the goods ya got, an-” But his words are cut off as Dinah suddenly gives him an uppercut with a grunt coming from her throat. The man stumbles back a step… and sloooowly looks back towards Dinah. Yeah, she didn’t even let him finish his threat before attacking. She takes a bounding step back and moves into a defensive stance… she is angled away from them, her knees bent and at shoulder width apart… her left hand drawn into a fist and tucked in at her side, her other hand extended towards them, elbow bent, her hand in a loose fist. A Kung Fu stance… Piercing Bridge, Returning to Cave

The one she punched (we’ll call him #1, his pals are #2 and #3), charges at her as he draws his fist back. He thrusts it towards her head, and her extended hand swipes outwards to throw his fist off target, and she leans the opposite way to avoid the punch completely. She leans towards him then and sends her knee to his midsection, which he seems to barely feel. With a grunt he swings his arm wide to try and swipe at her. She shifts her hip forward and her tucked hand shoots up to once again drive his fist off target, allowing her to lean out of the way once more. She jabs her free hand at his shoulder, but again he seems to hardly feel it.

Dinah bounds away from #1, moving out of his reach. And just as she does, #2 charges her. This time she can do more offensively. As #2 is charging, #1 is once more coming at her. #2 throws his armored fist at her head, and she leans to one side as she reaches up to grab his forearm with both of her hands. She starts to pivot as #1 throws his punch… and Dinah uses #2’s momentum and her own advantage of balance to put #2’s arm into the line of fire. His cry of pain accompanies the sound of cracking bone as #1’s power fist rams into #2’s arm, thanks to Dinah guiding them together. Dinah lets him go and weaves as she moves in on the other one, #2 kind of dropping to his knees and grasping his arm. Her eyes snap towards #1… and she realizes… there were 3 of them, right? Just as she thinks that, a sizable boot’s sole is driven into the side of her head. With a soft yelp she just drops onto her side, #3’s forward kick taking her down. “Little disrespectful punk.” #1 murmurs as he stalks towards Dinah, laying on her side, blood dribbling from her nose and the corner of her lip. But she is unmoving for only a moment.

She rolls onto her back, and then onto her stomach away from them to spring to her feet. She draws in a deep breath as the 2 remaining thugs charge her. Dinah lets out a scream… and it can be heard for a few blocks all around them. She unleashes her ‘Canary Cry’, what amounts to an intense sonic based attack. #1 is hit full on, and sent just flying out of the alley, landing in the street on his back. #3 and #2 both yell in pain as they stop and cover their ears, their eardrums about to burst. She continues the Cry for about 5 seconds, and then charges towards #3. Her classmates will of course have heard the Canary Cry, the railing of the fire escape actually trembling a little from the pure sonic force. But she made sure her back was to them, fearing that even from this distance she could have hurt them accidentally. Indeed, anyone with sensitive hearing might be effected. Sorry.

Dinah turns so her side is facing #3 as she closes in on him, and sends her feet to the side of his head in a standing side kick. He drops as she kind of stumbles passed him, and immediately moves back into her defensive stance. #3 isn’t moving… #2 is in to much pain to move… #1 is stirring, but still stunned. But she knows that’s not the end of it. She looks over her shoulder towards the street… and she sees more of Bane’s brothers emerging from a few of the buildings around them, from some of the other shadowed alleys.

And that’s why she told the group to go up the fire escape to the roof. At least there, they could minimize just how much they are outnumbered by. The difficulty getting to the roof, the narrow quarters of the fire escape… if they had gone out of the alley into the street… they would be swarmed by way to many of them to handle.

Dinah hears her name, and she glances in the direction the voice came from. Her gaze whips towards the street, now some of the thugs going into a sprint towards her and this alley. With just a glance, she counts at least 13 of them. And so she, too, starts towards the fire escape the group had gone up. But as she sprints passed #2, she gives him a good kick in the side of the head, a kick that would make the Gotham Knights punter proud. He falls unconscious finally, unmoving as Dinah runs. But only for about 12 or so feet before she skids to a stop and spins around. Now a crowd is barreling towards her… and she takes a deep breath before unleashing another Canary Cry. Her upper body leans forward as she uses her sonic attack, her hands in fists at her sides. The thugs stop almost as one, some falling to a knee, all of them grasping their ears in sudden pain. The attack stops as Dinah spins around and sprints full on for the fire escape. Only a couple of the thugs stumble to their feet and move after her, but swaying and slow. Her attack strong enough to even screw with their collective inner ear equilibrium.

Dinah leaps up onto the ladder and moves up, slower than she’d like. She’s a little out of breath at this point. But she pulls herself up, looking up to see some movement. She hopes that its her group, and not more thugs. “Look for a good place to jump to another building up there! We need to get moving away from here! We have to head in the direction of Loqerquist Towers!” She tries to move more quickly, but she hasn’t had a chance to catch her breath. And that’s going to catch up to her eventually.
 
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RJ voices her words… and then he seems to kind of dismiss them. She looks at him as if he had suddenly grown a third eye or something. And she feels a little insulted, frankly. Doesn’t add up? How does it not add up? Eyes of Horus is a commonly known spell… does exactly what she wrote down. So why would he say otherwise?

Probably because he has no actual idea what is involved in Eyes of Horus.

She is on her feet, holding her wand up to add a little light to this darkness. And when RJ tells her and Anselle to give them a lot of sudden light, she knows what he means. A flash bomb kind of thing. But once more she looks at RJ as if he were stupid. How is she supposed to do that? She can’t invoke more powerful spells… she only has access to her innate skills. And then she remembers something… her eyes widen as her free hand snaps towards her neck… and the necklace hanging there! She tugs it off of her neck as the light of her wand dissipates. When Emiko gave this to her, she immediately sensed it was indeed a powerful talisman. Even if it wasn’t as charged as it could be. Warding spirits and demons is an essential part of magic, and tools like this talisman can have a number of different uses. From simple protection hexes… to amplifying simple spells. Often when one of these talismans are fashioned, it’s used as merely a vessel of mystic energy. A battery of sorts, used to amplify and carry warding spells. And Zatanna thinks she can use that to her advantage, even if it isn’t demons they’re facing. Well not real demons, but evil nonetheless.

She holds her wand under her armpit and wraps the leather strap around the tip of the wand. She secures it as she scowls, feeling sweat dribbling down her cheek. It seems tight enough… so now she holds her wand and cups her hand over the crystal. She closes her eyes and is perfectly still as chaos erupts around her… as RJ climbs up the fire escape… Conner saves Emiko… Anselle handles the thugs in his own special way… Barry clears some of the roof… Megan is slowly overcome… Dinah is facing off against a trio… she can’t think about any of that, she has to focus. Push her energy into the crystal shard.

After a few moments she blows gently on the crystal, and makes a fanning motion with her hand. The crystal starts to glow, and along its surface tiny hex arrays form and shimmer. She raises her wand up, and it is suddenly glowing brilliantly. Some of the thugs around her wince and look away with the sudden light. Not exactly what RJ wanted… but she did the best she could. She smiles widely, rather proud of herself. She draws her wand down, and then flicks it upwards. A shimmering and glowing orb of light moves up along the side of the fire escape, providing light for those moving up it. The orb of light gets to the ledge of the rooftop and stays there, illuminating much of the roof.

She suddenly feels an arm around her waist, and her dark cheeks darken a little more as she starts to punch at the arm. Which only ends up with her hurting her own hand. She hears his voice, and realizes its Conner. She suddenly feels herself moving upwards with him in the air, and she now grips his arm as she tenses up, her eyes closing tight. If she had a voice she would be screaming right now. She isn’t afraid of heights or anything, quite the contrary. She ascended much of the Himalayas by levitation. But that was levitation.. kind of floating gently up. Not rocketing into the fucking stratosphere… at least that’s how it feels.

She is let go onto the fire escape, and immediately drops to her knees on it and wraps an arm around the railing as she tries to catch her breath. That suuuuuuucked. But feeling the fire escape rattling with all of the movement upon it now, she pushes herself up and tries to not hurl. Zatanna moves up the fire escape with the others, her eyes looking upwards. Emiko is hurt… she thinks she can come up with a simple spell to help her, should she get the chance to.
 
Pamela Isely & Harley Quinn

RJ's call for a lot of light wasn't lost on Harley's or Pams ears. While neither could oblige his request, they do have enough sense to close their eyes just in time for Anselle's flash to not blind them like it does most of their assailants. In fact, when the light comes over Pam, she feels the energy not just bounce off her skin like it does the others; she feels it enter her body and is invigorated like she's never felt before. She opens her eyes and looks at her hands, feeling the solar energy in her body just sitting there waiting to be used.

And yet she still can't figure what to do as she watches Anselle, sweet and gentle-looking Anselle, is lifted off the ground to be treated like a punching bag only for him to turn the tables on the two big men with a sudden show of strength. Then Megan, to her and Harley's slack-jawed surprise, turns into a totally different person. Pam, having never watched the show, doesn't recognize who she's changed into. Harley does and is very delighted.

“Oh awesome! You guys are in real trouble now! We got the Bionic Woman on our side!” Harley cheers as Megan takes the first guy head-on.

“Woo yeah!” Harley cheers again watching the one guy get tossed into the air. She watches the guy's power fist roll in front of her, and snatches it up.

“Neato!” She puts it on her right hand quick, but not quick enough before the other two are on Megan and wailing on her.

“Hey! Back off!” Harley winds up a punch with the metal fist, jumps up and lands on one guy with both feet on the top of his shoulders. Harley may be a lightweight, but her weight coming down on his back still causes the guy a good deal of pain. The other gets a hard right hook to that same spot at almost the exact same time. Both men collapse under these sudden hits, and Harley jumps backward to land defly on her feet. She looks at the two with a big almost mad grin and fists up.

"Come on big boyyyys! Gonna let little ol' me keep ya down?" She mocks them. Pam looks on, wishing she could do something about how the two men rise up slowly and forget about Megan to focus on Harley.

What can I even do? How do you make a bunch of rotten vegetables into weapons? What am I even doing here with this useless power?! Even that one guy who has no power, and Dinah and Emiko, are fighting to escape. And I am just standing here?

Wait why am I just standing here? Oh right I'm petrified!

As if to cement her point, Conner comes almost flying out of nowhere(She's too focused/scared to take her eyes off the three thugs in front of her) to knock out the two still standing, snatches up Harley and Megan, and leaps them to the relative safety of the fire escape RJ had surmounted.

"Weeee!" Harley exclaims on the trip up, and once set on the escape proclaims "We gotta do that again! Man I love this team!"

"H-Hey! What about me?" She asks meekly looking around. There were more thugs incoming, and by the light Zatanna puts out over the alley she sees one of them is actually staying on the ground, his neck at a weird angle and totally immobile.

Is he dead? Did someone kill him? Who could- Her thoughts are interupted by Conner suddenly taking her under his arm, with Zatanna in the other. Pam keeps her hands off Conner even as she squeals louder almost to make up for Zatanna being unable to join her. She has the very opposite of Harley's reaction when set down on the crowding fire escape. Like Zatanna the experience has her a bit woozy, but she goes over the side and holds onto the railing to steady herself and get re-oriented. "Please...never do that again.." She pleads thinking Conner was still up there with them before she saw that he was back down on the ground fighting same as Dinah, who for the second Pam was looking wasn't doing well, and she feared what was going to happen.

Until she heard that first Canary Cry and saw what it could do as she felt it shake the fire escape, and her ear drums. She muffled her ears with her hands, and while she was glad to know her roommate was even more well-equipped to fight with that surprise ability, Pam can't help but feel even less useful.

Conner calling Dinah to follow snaps Pam out of her moment of self-pity, and Harley gave her a light thump on the back to say "Hey Pam! We gotta get going! Come on!" She even grabs Pam by the hand, and leads her up the stairs. Which raises a question Pam asks as they ascend.

"Hey Harley...how are you able to touch me?" She asks.

"Huh? Whatcha mean?" Harley looks back at Pam quick but keeps moving.

"I'm....poisonous..at least touching my skin is, but you can touch me no problem." The redhead explains.

"Oh really? Well that's my only real special thing: I'm immune to most toxic stuff that would hurt people." Harley tells her and anyone else who happens to be listening. "It's a real neat part trick to chug a pint of anti-freeze at a party!"

Pam grimaces at the thought but keeps going until she reaches the roof along with the others. And finds more thugs waiting for them. A few look like they've already taken some hits, but also by the moonlight these guys are not as big as the guys on the ground.

"I gotcha Pam!" Harley puts up her fists and stands in front of her again, ready to fighy any comers. But Pam looks over Harley's head at the thugs, and down at her hands as she feels so stupid to have not realized she had a very potent weapon literally at her fingertips, and toes now that she really thinks about it. She's just let herself be too scared to use it.

"No." Pam moves around Harley and walks towards the thugs as they all choose a target in their group and go for them. She kicks off her shoes and walks barefoot with a determined stride, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched.

"Hey we saw one of you killed one of our boys! Eye for an eye!" One of them says as he walks up to meet Pam, who still feels her heart thumping like crazy as she fights her fear to look at him through the mask eye holes and not flinch. She taps into The Green, making her eyes glow green and making him pause as her veins take on a dark green color. "What are you...one of those freaks?" He forces a chuckle then charges her.

Pam side-steps the clumsy thug easily, and puts her hands on his neck as if to grab hold and choke him. But she doesn't need to even apply pressure. The guy stops in his tracks, and collapses to the ground. He shakes a few times, makes some choking noises, then stops and splays out. Pam looks down at him, and knows she should feel terrible at very possibly killing him, and yet feels...powerful.

"I got her!" A thug grabs Pam by the waist and lifts her up. The girl growls, but only has to put her hands on his bare arms to make him let her go "What the hell?! What the hell!!?" He screams as a bright red rash spreads out from where Pam touched his arms, and he scratches at it like mad, whimpering as it just keeps spreading and he starts to strip down, and falls to his knees trying to scratch it away.

"Ehhh nobody needs to see that!" Harley says before knocking that one out with one steel-padded hit to the jaw. Lucky for them too, as he was just about to take off his pants and now lies out on the rooftop with them partially undone. "Who else wants a real bad case of poison ivy?!" Harley shouts to the thugs as she gets down and attaches that guys power fist to her left hand, and bumps them together. She asks Pam "You did just give them a real bad itch and some sleep aid, right?" Pointing at the one who is motionless.

"Does it matter? They're going to kill us." Pam replies and readies herself for another bout, looking for a way to get off this rooftop and make their way to the tower as she heard Dinah say they should.

"Right." Harley shrugs and stands back-to-back with Pam as the other thugs aren't deterred by Pam's sudden show of her power. "Let's show 'em what we got!"
 
Conner Kent

Everyone was now on the roof or so Conner thought. He did a quick look around to see how everyone was and noticed someone was missing. "Who are we.." Conner slapped his head when he realized who was missing. Looking over the edge to the fire escape they came from he saw the missing person. "Anselle! Hurry up! We gotta go." Conner looked over his team, they weren't in "terrible shape" but they were beaten up a bit.

Looking over, he saw Pam and Harley finally kicking their butts in gear and helping some. Conner took a mental note of Pam's powers and also made sure not to touch her exposed skin, ever. Harley had this, an exciting grin on her face when she got another power fist on and was now ready to take on every bad guy on the roof. Conner didn't mind the challenge either but unfortunately, they had a few members not in fighting form at the moment.

Hearing what Dinah said, Conner looked over to where she pointed out the building they needed to head to. To get to the other buildings, they have to cross the street. The best way was to jump over or climb back down and cross. Seeing as none of his teammates could make the jump and the thugs were coming up the escape following Anselle, Conner basically had to play taxi for everyone. "Shit. Everyone move over to the edge of the building. I have to jump us all across. Barry, you can run over there." Conner picked up Emiko and Megan to carry them over and jump with them first. He saw Anselle finally make it up and follow them over. RJ still looked like he had a hurt foot but hide it well. Once they were all together in a group, Conner stepped up on the edge of the building, look down at the street seeing a few more thugs flood the alley. "Dinah, Anselle, Harley, Pam. You guys just hold them off a bit while I move everyone." With that, Conner jumped clear across the street and landed on the other side, doing his best to keep Emiko and Megan from getting hurt. He sat them both down and made sure no thugs were up here. Leaning down to them, he patted their shoulders. "Be right back." Leaving them with a smile, he jumped back over. As he did, he saw a bolt of lightning go past him. Barry most likely.

Landing back on the roof, he saw a good chunk of bad guys on the ground. Dinah was looking tired. "What? Tired already?" Conner grabbed RJ and Anselle next and jumped once again. After a few trips, all that was left was Dinah. Conner landed next to her and fought off a few guys with her. Once they had a bit of space, he scooped her up in his arms. She didn't seem overly fond of this. Conner laughed as he jumped, "What? Don't like being sweep off your feet?" They landed and she quickly pushed off him. "We need to move, leader."