Enter: Stephanie Brown

[newoutsiders]

Harbor duty again. These days, it's one of the most boring assignments you can get in Gotham, patrolling for crime as part of the Oracle Network. Babs's hastily formed but naturally well-coordinated alliance of Batman's allies both close and estranged has been protecting his city in his absence. And since that little terror Damian made it clear during a raid on Two-Face two weeks ago that the Network wouldn't be tolerating any shady business at the docks, it's been pretty quiet. Still, it has to be done. And tonight's Thursday night, which means it's your night to do it.

You've just settled into your favorite stakeout spot on the roof of a nearby warehouse, as behind you you hear an all too familiar *pop!*

Now, on top of everything else, her. At least she's unlikely to get in the way of anything.

"Heya, Steph!" a high pitched voice shouts way too loud, way too close to your ear. What sounds like four pit bulls start barking loudly in response, and a few window lights flicker on in the surrounding slum.

"Sorry," Misfit stage-whispers sheepishly, way too late. "But I'm just so excited! I had to tell someone!"

Comments

[stephbrown]

Crap. Crap and double crap, in fact. Steph dives out of the shadows and hits the guy right in the middle. She grabs for the phone and tosses it as hard as she can away from them. "Come on!" she yells, grabbing the guy by the wrist and hauling him behind her.

[newoutsiders]

You barely have time to walk ten feet before the phone explodes- catching you and your new friend at the edge of the blast radius. Dragging behind you, and being the one not covered in armor, it seems he took most of the damage. There's smoke everywhere, as lights go on all around you. Everyone at the docks comes running towards you to see what happened.

The guard is coughing, so he's definitely alive. But he needs a hospital. Now.

"Eep! Uh, don't worry!" Charlie yells. "I can handle this! I'll follow that truck!"

[stephbrown]

Honestly, chasing the truck is probably the best place for Charlie to be right now. That means she won't be down here, possibly getting in the way of the ass-kicking Steph might be about to get from the guard's buddies.

Steph takes a defensive stance as the other guarsd get near. "Okay, who wants to tell me what the hell that was all about?"

[newoutsiders]

Four of the guards are all lined up in front of you now, with seven more on the way.

"What?" One of the guards stops, confused. "But you-"

"Don't let her confuse you!" another guard barks, drawing his gun. "I saw her throw that bomb! Stand down, Batgirl!"

"Batgirl?" the first guard asks. "We can't seriously be-"

"Come on, Todd! She got Aaron!!"

"Fine," he says, drawing his weapon with the other two guards. "For Aaron. But we're looking at serious hazard pay."

In the distance, you hear a *poof!* as Charlie manages to 'port away- hopefully, towards the truck.

[stephbrown]

"Okay, Todd, you seem like a reasonable guy," Steph says, going for placating. "If I was here to hurt Aaron on purpose, why would I have thrown the bomb away from him, huh? Why would I have shown myself at all?" She smiles encouragingly, turning to Mr. Let's Just Attack. "Wouldn't I have stayed hidden ,and made sure he was in the line of fire?"

[newoutsiders]

Todd's aim wavers.

"She's making a pretty good point, Derek..."

Derek looks angrily over at Todd.

"I've been working here 6 years, Todd! You started, what, yesterday?"

"It was two mon-"

"Whatever! You don't know how things work here! Bats show up, the explosions start, entire warehouses get destroyed, and who's held responsible? Huh? Not them! Not the fucking Heroes of Gotham City!"

"I think Aaron's bleeding out, man..."

"This isn't just about Aaron! This is about taking charge of our goddamn lives for once! No more vigilantes in the Harbor!"

The third guard looks over at the fourth.

"So, do we, uh..."

The fourth shrugs, and just fires his gun at you.

[stephbrown]

Well, this situation just got a whole lot crappier. Steph dives out of the way. "Call 911 for your friend," she snaps at Todd. There's not a whole lot to hide behind; time to stand and fight, apparently. She surveys her opponents and decides to go for Derek first; maybe if she can take out the ringleader, the others will take a chill pill.

She lets out a loud "Cowabunga!" - never underestimate the power of people getting confused by that - and dashes forward, aiming a kick for Derek's gun hand, hoping she can make him drop it.

[newoutsiders]

Derek fires at you just as the kick connects, bullet going 50 degrees vertical and the gun flying out of his hands. Guy three dives at your other leg. Todd pulls back to call the cops as the other guards arrive on scene, but you can already hear sirens. Someone must have phoned in the explosion.

[stephbrown]

Steph glances around. Derek's holding his hand and howling, so he's probably not the biggest threat. It looks like the rest of the guys are madder now, though, so it might be time to exit stage left.

She pulls her grapple gun and nods. "Gentlemen." And with that, she aims for the roof of the warehouse, pulls the trigger, and braces before hitting the button that will retract the line and send her into the air.

[newoutsiders]

Some of the eleven guards shoot at you, but they all miss their mark as you speed off towards the roof. You hear the wail of an ambulance as it pulls up. If you need to question Aaron, you could probably do it later.

Derek and most of the guards start running into the warehouse, trying to catch you on the roof. But you can be long gone by then.

[stephbrown]

Steph decides that running away to fight another day is the better part of valor, and also that mixing metaphors is amazing. She gets out of there as fast as she can.

[newoutsiders]

Employing your usual acrobatics to leap across a few roofs and get to your well-hidden bike (if you do say so yourself), you check your tracks to find, to your relief, the harbor crowd seems to have lost your scent.

The next place to hit on patrol would be The Cauldron at this point... but you still haven't heard from Charlie.