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The Dynamic Duo Thing
May. 13th, 2013 11:50 am"You're off your game."
Translation for those who don't speak Bat: I'm worried about you.
Robin is in the middle of swinging from a grapple line, so he puts the shrug into his voice.
"I got kicked in the chest. I'm alright."
"The latest mission report didn't include that." And he'd know if it happened on a Bat excursion.
Translation: Are you getting into trouble at school?
"Not on a mission. In that Milliways place."
"I warned you that could be dangerous."
Translation: Do I need to come there and put the fear of the Bat into someone?
"It was a misunderstanding. It won't happen again."
"I can't use you if you're not at one hundred percent."
Translation: Are you okay? Do you need to take the evening off?
"You can't do this without me."
Translation: And miss the payoff of all our work? Are you kidding me?
It's been a lot of work, as well. Batman and Robin have been anticipating this deal for weeks, tracking both the suppliers and the potential buyer. If the deal goes off, the Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate will have cemented for themselves a hold in the Gotham underworld – unacceptable, and Beetles Branagan will have a fresh supply of Papop weapons - also, unacceptable. If they can take the deal down tonight, the Clerkenwells will think twice about trying again for a piece of the city, and Beetles will be safe in Blackgate. And hopefully they can find out how the Brits have been pulling off this recent surge in crime in the area. But it has to go their way tonight.
They've finally pinpointed the location of tonight's deal on the Old Docks, and as the Dynamic Duo approach the position, they notice a gradual thinning out of the local nightlife, the dead of night getting deader. Someone's been clearing out potential witnesses. As they get close to the warehouse, the familiar heavy shadow beside Robin disappears upwards and he's on his own. He also disappears into the night.
Robin downloaded and studied the blueprints of this particular building before heading out. It used to function as a shipping yard, and is built around a large empty space big enough to house an entire tall ship for refurbishment and loading. Since the building of the New Gotham Port and the draining of the Old Docks, it's completely dry and like many buildings around here has fallen into disuse. It's marked for renovation and will probably one day be a trendy shopping mall, but now it's just the prefect place for this kind of deal to take place. There are walkways that run around the edge of the building that make a second and third 'storey,' with offices and storerooms looking out over the yard, perfect for housing snipers of both teams, just to make sure it goes down according to plan.
Robin crouches on the outside of the building, and activates the holographic display for the in his gauntlet. Scanning the area, he finds a temporary wireless network set up, from which someone is controlling motion sensors on the walkways and the roof. There are windows not covered byt the motion detectors for gunmen – six inside the warehouse, another six on the roof covering each other. Everyone has their place, and everyone stays in their place or all Hell breaks loose. Robin pinpoints the location of the wireless hub as an office on the second floor, and, after sending the sniper locations to Batman's cowl, it's up to there that he grapples.
He's just removing the pane from the window when, through the glass front of the office, across the building to the other side, the background light pollution is temporarily blocked by a shadow vanishing upwards.
The man at the computer console, monitoring the movements of the people in the building is engrossed in watching the screen, and oblivious to anything else in the room. Robin almost feels sorry for him as he sweeps up behind him and takes him down before he even knows he's there. A second later, all the alarms are disabled.
From there, he ducks out of the office and uses the shadows as cover as he races to the marksman on this floor, bring him down from behind. He then swings himself over the railing above him and brings down first one, then a second sniper up there, too. It takes him longer than he hoped: he can hear conversations in the main shipyard; raised voices. The deal will either be over soon, or he'll find himself in a warzone.
Just as he's finishing with the last sniper on this side, there is an almighty crash, and the boarded over roof of the shipyard give way, as the Batman descends from above.
Pandemonium breaks out, as the men below lay into the Bat with bats, crowbars and all the close ranged weapons they have. Robin knows the only thing keeping the remaining gunmen from taking shots is that with the cape and the dust from the crash, it's hard to find a target. Robin looks up, and spots a loading crane unaffected by the crash – he uses that to grapple himself across, taking one of the remaining snipers out with his feet to the face. The second on that level turns on him, but before he take the shot Robin is on him too. He makes sure they're both safe before swinging down and repeating this on the second floor.
By the time he's finished, the chaos of the fight below has calmed down, and Batman is down.
There was another player – someone neither Batman nor Robin had expected. A tall woman in a red and white is standing over Batman, holding a fancy sword at his neck. Her hair swings in a long blonde braid, and when she speaks, it's with a clipped British accent.
"So this is the Caped Crusader? Overrated, if you ask me."
Beetles Branagan steps into the light, and raises his voice to the building.
“He's never alone. Where are you, Boy Wonder? Your mentor is down. Come forward, or Lady Vic will have a new trophy for her mansion."
What can Robin do? He laughs.
The sound echoes around the ship yard, and infuriates both Beetles and Her Ladyship. When she screams “Shoot him!” and no one responds, she screams again and brings her sword towards Batman's neck.
But Batman is no longer there.
Robin throws himself off the walkway, sending three impact-activated smoke-bombs ahead of him.
In the smoke, only the two with IR in their masks can see anyone else. As Robin takes down every foot soldier stupid enough to still be standing, Batman has a longer fight with the woman, who also turns out to be a competent martial artist. Robin coming up from behind her and stealing her sword helps end that fight.
As for Beetles? He tries to flee. And two bolas hit him at exactly the same time – a small red one around his ankles, and heavy bat-shaped weights wrapping around his thighs to bring him down.
Robin looks up at Batman, as they both fire grapples to ascend to the roof.
“Well, that went well..”
Batman grunts.
Translation: Good work, partner. I couldn't do this without you. You're so indispensable I have nothing to criticize about your performance.
Translation for those who don't speak Bat: I'm worried about you.
Robin is in the middle of swinging from a grapple line, so he puts the shrug into his voice.
"I got kicked in the chest. I'm alright."
"The latest mission report didn't include that." And he'd know if it happened on a Bat excursion.
Translation: Are you getting into trouble at school?
"Not on a mission. In that Milliways place."
"I warned you that could be dangerous."
Translation: Do I need to come there and put the fear of the Bat into someone?
"It was a misunderstanding. It won't happen again."
"I can't use you if you're not at one hundred percent."
Translation: Are you okay? Do you need to take the evening off?
"You can't do this without me."
Translation: And miss the payoff of all our work? Are you kidding me?
It's been a lot of work, as well. Batman and Robin have been anticipating this deal for weeks, tracking both the suppliers and the potential buyer. If the deal goes off, the Clerkenwell Crime Syndicate will have cemented for themselves a hold in the Gotham underworld – unacceptable, and Beetles Branagan will have a fresh supply of Papop weapons - also, unacceptable. If they can take the deal down tonight, the Clerkenwells will think twice about trying again for a piece of the city, and Beetles will be safe in Blackgate. And hopefully they can find out how the Brits have been pulling off this recent surge in crime in the area. But it has to go their way tonight.
Hey, Bruce?
They've finally pinpointed the location of tonight's deal on the Old Docks, and as the Dynamic Duo approach the position, they notice a gradual thinning out of the local nightlife, the dead of night getting deader. Someone's been clearing out potential witnesses. As they get close to the warehouse, the familiar heavy shadow beside Robin disappears upwards and he's on his own. He also disappears into the night.
Are you glad I'm here?
Robin downloaded and studied the blueprints of this particular building before heading out. It used to function as a shipping yard, and is built around a large empty space big enough to house an entire tall ship for refurbishment and loading. Since the building of the New Gotham Port and the draining of the Old Docks, it's completely dry and like many buildings around here has fallen into disuse. It's marked for renovation and will probably one day be a trendy shopping mall, but now it's just the prefect place for this kind of deal to take place. There are walkways that run around the edge of the building that make a second and third 'storey,' with offices and storerooms looking out over the yard, perfect for housing snipers of both teams, just to make sure it goes down according to plan.
Robin crouches on the outside of the building, and activates the holographic display for the in his gauntlet. Scanning the area, he finds a temporary wireless network set up, from which someone is controlling motion sensors on the walkways and the roof. There are windows not covered byt the motion detectors for gunmen – six inside the warehouse, another six on the roof covering each other. Everyone has their place, and everyone stays in their place or all Hell breaks loose. Robin pinpoints the location of the wireless hub as an office on the second floor, and, after sending the sniper locations to Batman's cowl, it's up to there that he grapples.
He's just removing the pane from the window when, through the glass front of the office, across the building to the other side, the background light pollution is temporarily blocked by a shadow vanishing upwards.
Do you ever regret taking me in?
The man at the computer console, monitoring the movements of the people in the building is engrossed in watching the screen, and oblivious to anything else in the room. Robin almost feels sorry for him as he sweeps up behind him and takes him down before he even knows he's there. A second later, all the alarms are disabled.
From there, he ducks out of the office and uses the shadows as cover as he races to the marksman on this floor, bring him down from behind. He then swings himself over the railing above him and brings down first one, then a second sniper up there, too. It takes him longer than he hoped: he can hear conversations in the main shipyard; raised voices. The deal will either be over soon, or he'll find himself in a warzone.
Just as he's finishing with the last sniper on this side, there is an almighty crash, and the boarded over roof of the shipyard give way, as the Batman descends from above.
Would you be better off with another partner?
Pandemonium breaks out, as the men below lay into the Bat with bats, crowbars and all the close ranged weapons they have. Robin knows the only thing keeping the remaining gunmen from taking shots is that with the cape and the dust from the crash, it's hard to find a target. Robin looks up, and spots a loading crane unaffected by the crash – he uses that to grapple himself across, taking one of the remaining snipers out with his feet to the face. The second on that level turns on him, but before he take the shot Robin is on him too. He makes sure they're both safe before swinging down and repeating this on the second floor.
By the time he's finished, the chaos of the fight below has calmed down, and Batman is down.
If you could do it again - would you?
There was another player – someone neither Batman nor Robin had expected. A tall woman in a red and white is standing over Batman, holding a fancy sword at his neck. Her hair swings in a long blonde braid, and when she speaks, it's with a clipped British accent.
"So this is the Caped Crusader? Overrated, if you ask me."
Beetles Branagan steps into the light, and raises his voice to the building.
“He's never alone. Where are you, Boy Wonder? Your mentor is down. Come forward, or Lady Vic will have a new trophy for her mansion."
What can Robin do? He laughs.
Could you do this without me?
The sound echoes around the ship yard, and infuriates both Beetles and Her Ladyship. When she screams “Shoot him!” and no one responds, she screams again and brings her sword towards Batman's neck.
But Batman is no longer there.
Robin throws himself off the walkway, sending three impact-activated smoke-bombs ahead of him.
Do you need me?
In the smoke, only the two with IR in their masks can see anyone else. As Robin takes down every foot soldier stupid enough to still be standing, Batman has a longer fight with the woman, who also turns out to be a competent martial artist. Robin coming up from behind her and stealing her sword helps end that fight.
As for Beetles? He tries to flee. And two bolas hit him at exactly the same time – a small red one around his ankles, and heavy bat-shaped weights wrapping around his thighs to bring him down.
Yeah, you need me.
Robin looks up at Batman, as they both fire grapples to ascend to the roof.
“Well, that went well..”
Batman grunts.
Translation: Good work, partner. I couldn't do this without you. You're so indispensable I have nothing to criticize about your performance.
You're welcome.
