I know it's hard but...

[controlledvariable]

Who: Steph Brown, others [closed]
What: Monster fighting, rescues, healing
Where: All around Baedal
When: Over a two week period since Hasi broke reality
Notes: Everyone has their own thread starter, which are in no particular order, if there are any problems/questions please let me know!
Warnings: NPC death, gore, violence, monsters, PTSD, my inability to be succint, if I've missed any feel free to tell me

The monsters are new for her.

It's not that she isn't used to dealing with all the assorted bullshit that Gotham can throw at a vigilante, but there's nothing quite like this. There are people like Killer Croc and Zsasz and Black Mask, who might be horrific, but they're still people. These monsters are more like animals, but they're huge and violent and they hunt people. She's not trained for this, she's not equipped for this and she sure as hell isn't prepared for it. Getting the gun and new batarangs from Rex helps, and she adds a large hunting knife to her array of weaponry, but it still doesn't feel like enough.

It's terrifying, in a way that she doesn't have time to deal with, so she pushes that down and focuses on doing what she can. There's moments, as she faces down things that eclipse her worst nightmares, when she wonders if she should be hiding instead of out here fighting. But there are other moments, times when she wins, when she gets to reunite a parent with their lost child, and it doesn't matter that Steph is bleeding, bruised and exhausted, because she did good.

At the behest of Babs, and the reminders her own body sends, she forces herself to stop and rest once in a while. Usually she goes back to wherever Babs is, or Kate, if she happens to be resting at the same time. Her sleep happens in small bursts, a few hours here or there, curled up near Babs or Kate and letting the exhaustion take over. She tries not to eat too much, because she has no idea how long these monsters will stay in the city and she's scared that food will start running out. She's already started collect supplies, bringing them to the safe places and distributing them to people.

She doesn't think about the dead bodies she sees, or the injured people. A lot of Baedalites can look after themselves, but some of them can't and it's those who end up as smears on a wall. Except for when she has to stop to throw up, after seeing half eaten corpses; then she thinks about it, and she doesn't know how long she can keep going out and coming back alive.

She hopes no one will hold it against her if she gets killed.

Comments

[Hermione]

[controlledvariable]

It's the sound that draws her; someone is crying not too far away and even without the city in the state it is, Steph would still go towards it. When she rounds the corner, she's greeted by the sight of a Xenian person standing in the middle of an empty street , fighting off something that Steph can't see. They keep trying to run, starting to move before seeming to come up against something that makes them step back. Steph doesn't know what it is, but from the way the Xenian is acting, they seem to be surrounded and terrified. They're not screaming though, which is what confuses Steph, instead she can definitely determine them as the source of the crying.

She hates herself for it, but she hesitates. What can she do, against something she can't even see? After a moment more, the Xenian falls to their knees, apparently having lost the will to fight further, and that makes the decision for Steph. She runs towards them, frowning when she realizes how cold the air temperature and how dark it's gotten, but she doesn't slow until she reaches the Xenian.

Just as they collapse completely, suddenly unmoving although Steph doesn't get a chance to check for a pulse because suddenly she's terrified. The feeling hits so hard she stumbles, looking around her even though she knows she won't be able to see them. The Xenian has to be dead, because Steph knows that she's going to be dead herself, soon, if the way she feels is any indication.

It's when she hears Black Mask's voice, like something dragged up out of a nightmare that she knows she has to run. This can't be real, something is doing this to her and she has to get the hell away from it. Her footsteps echo through the empty street, but the coldness and darkness and fear seems to be following her. It doesn't help that she's noticing more victims lying in the street, completely still but otherwise unharmed. She wonders if whatever is trying to get her is responsible. She thinks it was.

She realizes she can't keep running forever, not only because she'll run out of fight eventually, but also because she can't leave other people to face whatever this is. With shaking hands, she reaches into her pocket and pulls up the first useful number she can think of. Well, the one that will answer, because she doubts Martel has time to take calls, but Hermione will.

"Hermione, oh god," she doesn't wait for a response, knowing Hermione can just play the message back, "There's something here and I can't see it but it's killing people." She realizes how panicked she sounds, but she doesn't have time to slow down and regain her breath or composure, "I think it's a ghost or something. It's dark and cold and I can't--" she doesn't know how to explain what she's feeling, "Please. I can't see it, but you're magic and maybe you can. I'm in Rim, near the Verso train line, please come."

She has the CiD pressed near her ear as she keeps running, waiting desperately for Hermione to respond as the air starts to grow colder.

[Hermione]

[leviohhhhsa]

Hermione is in a safehouse when she receives the call, and coincidentally thinking about Steph and the promise she had nearly wrung from her about taking a break. That's what she's been trying to do- but now that the original fatigue has lifted, she feels aimless and guilty, unsure of how to pick things up again and start moving.

Until Steph calls her.

It's amazing how quickly she gets to the door- she can't Apparate in and out thanks to a spell of her own doing, but she can run. She keeps the CiD to her ear as she does- "Stay calm, I'm coming," she says, in a voice that seeks to reassure, even though she's just been hit by a wave of worry. "Keep moving, I'll find you!"

She shoves her way through the security with frantic speed, her hands functioning without bypassing her brain, shutting off the CiD so that her hand is free for her wand, making sure her bag is securely on her shoulder while her mind repeats it can't be ghosts, what can I possibly do about ghosts...

Except something Steph had said had almost sounded like--

That thought is cut off by the whirlwind of Apparition. She finds her feet perfectly, and then she doesn't have to wonder what's chasing Steph anymore because she can see them, but most importantly, she can feel them.

She wasn't prepared for this. And isn't that horrible? The planner, the worrier, the bookworm, the researcher, taken absolutely unawares by something she should have worked out before she got here, breaking her own rules, stumbling in blind- what is she without a plan, exactly? What is she without her layers of safety nets and back up plans and just-in-case provisions? What is she when she's terrified, everything inside her gone cold with flat, thick, white, unthinkable panic-

No! Think! For God's sake, think!

"Run," she gasps to Steph, almost pleading, though she doesn't look away from the gaping, rotting mouths of the Dementors flooding the street, her breath crystalising in the air in front of her as she raises her wand, thinks of what is there, there's nothing, there's nothing that I can possibly- no!

"Expecto-"

Nothing, just black tendrils coming closer and closer, her voice carried off into nothingness even though she's trying to shout.

Somewhere in her mind there's the vague idea of her and Harry and Ron in first year, after they'd bonded over knocking out a mountain troll but before everything went wrong, the impression of having friends, of not having realised how much she needed them, of bursting into helpless giggles at some stupid joke for her first time since she'd arrived at school. She's not sure it's strong enough, but it's something, and she holds into it. "Expecto Patronum!"

She can't manage a corporeal Patronus at the moment- the only spell she ever had trouble with- oh, damn it all, damn it- but she conjures something akin to a silver wall of light, which holds the Dementors back far enough for the cold to recede slightly, keeping them at bay. She has a limited time, she knows, before it cracks, but she holds onto the grain of warmth inside her as she casts around wildly to see where Steph is- oh God, say she's running...

[controlledvariable]

The CiD gets slipped into a pouch of her belt as she keeps running, moving as fast as she can. She doesn't bother to try to be tricky, because ducking behind walls or into thin alley ways doesn't seem to slow whatever is following her. It just keeps getting colder.

When Hermione appears, Steph stops despite the urging to do otherwise, because she can't just leave Hermione to face whatever it is alone. It doesn't matter that she can't see them. She panics, briefly, when Hermione's spell doesn't seem to work, but then it's cast again and there's a wall of light and that's reassuring.

Steph runs back up to Hermione, still looking a little panicked but relatively calmer for the fact the patronus is keeping the dementors at bay - she can't see that, but she can feel the effect.

"What can I do?" Because while she does feel a litte better, she can see Hermione looks worried.

[Kalinda]

[controlledvariable]

After stocking up on weapons and checking in on the network, Steph has to start thinking about what to do with herself. She could just patrol the city until she finds something to fight, but that feels like it's a waste. She's not particularly strong, and she isn't that well armed; her best option is to work with people, to protect them and make sure they're safe. It might be selfish, but she thinks of her friends first. A lot of them can take care of themselves, but her mind drifts to the photos on her CiD.

Kalinda had gone out earlier to take photos of the Candlelighters and their set up around Mafaton. At the time, Steph hadn't worried too much -- she trusted Kalinda to be careful. But that's different now that there are monsters lurking around and potentially looking for a meal. Kalinda might be able to handle herself against a Candlelighter or two, but Steph can't imagine her knowing what to do with a giant dragon or troll or any of the things Steph has seen but can't actually name. At first she tries to call Kalinda's CiD, but getting no response, she starts heading towards Mafaton, thanking her luck that she's only in East Gidd and not too far away. There's no point letting the lack of response worry her, there could be plenty of reasons that Kalinda isn't answering. Steph can panic later, when she knows her friends are safe.

As she runs, she pulls up the photos from her CiD, looking over them to work out where exactly Kalinda had been before the sky changed and monsters started pouring into the city. Steph suddenly regrets not learning the layout of Mafaton better -- but it's never been part of her patrol route, because it's not safe for her to be there at night. There are other ways to work out locations, though. Steph flicks through the most recent few photos, noting where the shadows fall, matching it up to the time stamp on the photos. It gives a rough idea of what area Kalinda was last in.

When she gets closer, it's easier to see the remnants of the Candlelighters' set up, partly abandoned now that there are more things to deal with. There are some corpses strewn about, bodies with their throats torn out, and Steph has a feeling this was retaliation from the previously trapped Mafaton citizens, rather than any of the creatures that came through. She has no sympathy for the dead Candlelighters. It doesn't take her too long to match the final photo to a nearby spot, she can even pick where Kalinda must have been hidden to take the photo. It's been long enough that Kalinda is no longer close by, so Steph heads up to the rooftops, figuring she can get a better view of the streets.

It's just a guess, but she thinks Kalinda will be smart enough to head home, so that's the direction that Steph goes, moving at a reasonable pace, trying to cover lots of ground without potentially missing anything. It's then that she sees a... something moving down the street. It looks humanesque, but seems to be missing the top half of it's head, and it's moving on all fours. It's moving with a purpose though, and regardless of where Kalinda is, Steph decides to follow this thing to see what it's up to.

[betterthansubpoenas]

As it happens, getting from Mafaton to Flyside has proven to be quite tricky now that there are fucking hideous beasts pouring out of the sky. The one spotted by Steph isn't a lone creature, either. These things hunt in packs, and that becomes terribly evident when she's close enough to see past the mouth of an alleyway, where the sounds of a struggle are evident even amidst the rest of the chaos.

She'll have to give praise to the Gods after this, Kalinda notes to herself, if she makes it out of this alive. A sound escapes her throat, as much guttural as it is fearful, as she viciously swings the baseball bat clutched tightly in both hands at the nearest of the monsters slowly pushing her toward the wall at her back.

It connects with a loud crack! that would be far more satisfying if another weren't so ready to crawl over its fallen body to take its place. There has to be at least a half a dozen of them, and Kalinda is properly afraid for her life. All that shows on the surface, however, is a ruthless determination to live.

Let no one say she didn't go down swinging.

A second blow hits its mark, knocking her target off balance and into a pile of trash bags, but it leaves her open to an attack on her left side. Claws catch her bicep with a wet tearing sound that startles her and sends her staggering back. The bat stays held in her right hand, but her left arm now hangs useless at her side.

[controlledvariable]

It's almost instantaneous, how quickly Steph has her grapple gun out and fired; there's a building across from her, and one just behind it that's a lot higher, and the claws of the grapple hook going into that one so she'll have the height and momentum to take them to the lower rooftop. She saw the swipe of those claws and knows Kalinda won't be able to hold out much longer, which means she has to get her out of there right now.

As soon as the hook is in the wall and a batarang is in her left hand, Steph leaps off the rooftop, angling her swing so that she won't smash into the wall Kalinda is backed up against. It might seem like she came out of nowhere, if Kalinda's attention is focused on the seplavites, because Steph is suddenly just there, her free arm grabbing Kalinda tightly around the waist as she drops the batarang in Kalinda's stead. Steph thinks it's fair trade.

"Stay loose," Is the only brief instruction she gives as she presses the button on her grapple gun to retract the line, which pulls them both up and out of the reach of the seplavites. It takes about five seconds for them to get to the rooftop Steph was aiming for, and she lets go of the grapple once they're close - she can go get it later - and angles them both so that when they land, Steph takes all the impact. It's never easy to land with two people, and she only manages to keep her feet for a few moments before she goes down. If things were different, Steph might take the opportunity to make a joke about her being on her back with Kalinda on top of her, but she's a little too out of breath at that moment.

And anyway, she doubts she'd be heard over the sound of her batarang exploding. At least the seplavites won't be troubling anyone else.

[Tatiana]

[controlledvariable]

The clothes shop she's holed up in isn't exactly secure, but the door to the back room was solid enough when she pulled it closed, and there'd been a few bottles of water there, which had been a blessing. The young man Steph brought with her is currently unconscious, his shirt cut open where she had to get at the large gashes across his chest. She's done what she can to stop the bleeding, and used precious painkillers to help him with the pain, but she can't move him in this condition, and he's not going to last without more medical attention.

Her supplies are limited, and she needs to get him to a safe house where he can be properly treated. She'd like to get him to Glory Shada, but she has no idea if it's open, and while the spot she's in at Echomire is fairly close, there'd still be a good distance to go. There's a magically warded safe house about twenty minutes away, as the bat flies, and Steph think she can make it as long as she gets the man - Carl, he'd managed to get out between whimpers - stabilized enough to move him. But she can't do it alone.

Tatiana, it's Steph. I was wondering how you'd feel if that partnering up you offered happened right now. I've got an injured man in Echomire and I could really use a second pair of hands. And some sutures.

Tatiana is one of the first people to come to mind, both because she's a superhero, and because she had a med kit with her, so that's where the text goes.

[catiana]

Tatiana herself is holed up somewhere less than secure - she stumbled across an animal shelter, and of course she had to help evacuate the remaining staff and animals. She's the only one left, now, tired but satisfied.

It's not the best place to be resting, probably, but it's better than being out in the open, and the old sofa in the entrance is relatively comfortable. So she leans back, and closes her eyes - never quite drifting off, but letting herself relax.

She's not sure how much time has passed when she hears her CiD beeping at her. Her eyes snap open at the sound, and she forces herself to keep calm as she pulls it out.

Her brow furrows as she reads the message, and she nods to no one when she finishes. Swift as she can, she types her answer:

On my way.

Then she jumps up, slings the pack holding her kit over her back, and heads out. Echomire isn't too far off; she should be there soon, if she's quick and careful.

[controlledvariable]

The reply is a relief, and Steph lets out a breath she hadn't even realized she'd been holding. She gives Carl a quick check over to make sure he's in a stable enough condition, and then she heads out to the front of the store to wait. She doesn't want to make Tatiana spend too long searching for the place; it's dangerous for everyone involved.

Her gun is drawn, ready to shoot anything that looks like it might try to eat her.

[Laura]

[controlledvariable]

Zombies are not what she was expecting, but while they're revolting - and she has to fight hard to ignore the part of her brain reminding her these were people once - they're something she feels equipped to deal with. Not like the odd winged creature she saw flying overhead earlier.

She's escorting a small group of people to Babs' safe house when the zombies turn up, and Steph tells them to keep going without her. One of them protests, not wanting to leave their guard behind, but Steph reassures them that there's not long to go, and that she'll catch up as soon as possible. It's fortunate the zombies approaching are the slow kind; it gives Steph plenty of time to see the group off, then pull out and extend her bo staff. She figures she can put enough strength behind her blows to crush skulls -- and if horror movies have taught her anything, it's that you have to destroy a zombie's head to kill it. Plus the knife she's started carrying around will work as a Plan B.

A quick count puts the numbers at about thirty zombies, which briefly makes Steph doubt her ability to handle them all, but that doesn't stop her from walking up to the pack, staff at the ready as she starts taking them down.

[23rd]

Laura has a much easier time forgetting that the undead used to be people.

That's probably because she still has a hard time remembering that killing people is supposed to be a big thing. A few years of retraining from the X-men and the Avengers have done nothing to temper the training from her early childhood -- people have always been her primary targets.

She doesn't intend to follow Steph, but her senses take her in this direction anyway -- she smells rotting flesh, and she hears it on the move. Zombies are pretty dire because of the risk of infecting ordinary citizens and it's prudent to put them down immediately. So that's why she's here, standing on the edge of a rooftop as she assesses the situation below.

Good. Batgirl is here. That will make it easier.

It sure has been Laura's week for dropping on things from above. She lands on the other side of the pack from Batgirl, standing still for a few moments while her ankles heal themselves from the fall. Then she's moving forward, slicing through two of them with absolutely zero concern about ingesting any infectious substances. It can't hurt her with her healing factor.

Hi, Steph.

[controlledvariable]

Hi, Laura.

She looks up when someone drops down, just to make sure it's not a further threat and smiles to herself when she identifies Laura. This is going to make things go much quicker.

It's times like this she really misses having Bruce around as a benefactor; the fancy face masks that slot perfectly into place with her cowl would come in handy right now. Instead, she just has to be careful not to get any zombie goop on her exposed skin. Which is trickier than it seems when a swing of her staff nearly takes the head off one, but she's managing so far.

[Sunny]

[controlledvariable]

Steph's perched on the roof of an apartment block in Kinken, drinking the last of her protein gel packs - it tastes kind of awful, but it's a quick boost of energy and will keep her going for at least another two hours - when she sees Sunny running past on the street below. That's enough to get her quickly draining the rest of the pack and tossing it aside (littering is bad, but she doesn't want to shove it in a utility belt and then accidentally pull it out instead of a batarang), but what comes running after gets her moving fast enough to give the Flash a run for his money.

The three Deathclaws coming after Sunny are kind of terrifying, and if it was up to Steph, she'd never want to interact with them ever. But it's Sunny, and Steph likes him, and she won't just stand and watch; if she'd been paying better attention, she might've noticed that he doesn't look particularly concerned about the huge monsters chasing him, but sometimes she leaps before she looks. It takes her twenty seconds to get parallel to Sunny, putting her about ten feet in front of the creatures. The building ahead is only one storey high, so when she gets to the roof of that, it's easy enough to jump straight down to street level without bothering to get out her grapple gun. She comes down just behind Sunny, facing the Deathclaws and already sending an ice-arang at the closest one, creating a frozen block of ice around it's legs and sending it crashing down. It won't keep it down for long, and the others are already advancing.

"Keep moving!" She doesn't turn around to see if Sunny follows the instructions; she's busy taking her pulse gun from it's holster and firing at the two other Deathclaws.

[yeouiju]

Well. This is not according to plan.

Because believe it or not, Sunny has one. Even as he runs through the streets of Baedal, glancing back to see how near the monsters are gaining (to see if they're still keeping up), he has a plan. It does not involve a mysterious woman suddenly coming between him and the monsters in pursuit, and he spins on a heel in agile alarm even as she yells at him to keep running, while the thundering shadows of the two remaining Deathclaws loom over her comparatively slight frame.

The pulse gun stumbles one, but the other is content to suddenly leap and launch itself for its prey, that infamous arm raised in preparation for its one-shot kill. Whether Stephanie plans to deftly avoid the incoming blow or utilise her weapons, Sunny can't simply allow her to face off against the beasts. The third one has already broken its icy trap, lumbering to gain back ground.

A soundless lashing of magic ripples the air above Steph's head, a distorting effect of heat-wave ripples and an odd rainbow effect of bent light. It connects as swift as a gun shot against that raised arm, and there's a sickening crunch of dislocated bone, snapped ligament, tearing flesh, the monster propelled backwards under the now useless bulk of its almost severed arm.

[controlledvariable]

She was totally going to punch it in it's face, but the lash of magic has her frozen for a split second in shock, before she turns her head to look at Sunny.

"What?!" She doens't have time to ask did you do that? because there are still two Deathclaws to take care of, and questions can come later. The previously iced monster is coming at them and Steph moves easily, ducking under a swing of it's claw and jumping up to shove something inside it's mouth. There's a splash of blood on her hand, which is to be expected considering she just jammed a batarang into the roof of it's mouth, her gloves protecting her from it's teeth. Half a second later, as Steph moves out of it's way, the Deathclaw convulses, electricity crackling over it's skin before it falls, apparently dead. Thank God Rex for electrically charged batarangs.

[Tadhg]

[controlledvariable]

The position she's picked is a good one; she's hidden in a now empty house that's taken relatively little damage from the various creatures that are plaguing the city. It's on a corner, so she can see anything coming from a variety of direction, the exits are fairly sturdy, but not too hard to get out of, in case something manages to get in. Most importantly, it gives her a good view of the bar across the intersection, in which an undetermined number of people are currently holed up. They're hiding from the creatures outside, which are doing their best effort to break in.

The creatures appear to be a small group of giant, brightly coloured frogs. Steph's learned enough about biology to know that brightly coloured usually equals highly poisonous, and even if it didn't, those teeth look deadly. She doesn't want to test how her body armour will stand up to them.

She realizes this is a situation she can't handle alone, and while she could possibly call around to all her friends and see who's free to assist, the most logical course of action is to call Babs. This is what Oracle is for, after all. Steph sends off a quick text, detailing the situation and her location and asking for assistance, preferably someone with powers. Normally her first request would've been Kara, but even Oracle can't reach through dimensions to bring her back up, so she'll have to make do with who Babs can find.

A few minutes later she receives a confirmation that someone is on their way, and Steph replies with a thank you, and with more specific details about her location; including how to approach and enter the house without drawing unwanted attention, trusting Babs to pass the message on.

Now all she has to do is wait.

[gifted_hands]

Tadhg has had an eventful time of it since the world-walls ruptured, maneuvering as close as he dares to the breaks, killing or incapacitating what of the invading horrors he can, and guiding their would-be victims to sanctuary. The power he stored up in his torcs for the purpose of taking on the Candlelighters has found good use in his fights, as have his sword and throwing knives. His efforts to get people to safety, on the other hand, have met with only partial success. Some accepted his help gratefully, especially those whose wounds he healed, but others edged away uneasily or simply ran before he could speak a word to them. Apparently they found the cutlery in his hands and the magic sparking in his eyes and along his blades just as unnerving as whatever creature had tried to eat them.

Nor had being called cousin by a trio of laughing kelpies, in English, in front of listeners, helped either his reputation or his mood.

Frustrated as he feels, Tadhg doesn't hesitate to respond to Barbara Gordon's request. Maybe working with a human will reassure those he's trying to help. At any rate, it probably can't hurt. Assuming his stallion-form and following the directions provided, he arrives at Steph's location in minutes.

Those directions plus a touch of glamour and warding mean that the frog-creatures have no inkling of his arrival, but he knows better than to catch the young warrior he's meeting unawares. He tracks her scent to a front room, but he calls softly to her before rounding a corner into her line of sight. "Hello? I'm Tadhg MacEibhir. Barbara sent me."

[controlledvariable]

She's up as soon as she hears his voice, turning to the entrance to the room with a hand on her gun. It's probably excessive paranoia, considering she did ask for someone to be sent but she figures it can't hurt. She moves her hands to her hips when he tells her who he is, looking him over to try to gauge how helpful he'll be. Her expression is serious, because this is a serious situation, but she still manages to exude friendliness despite all that. It's obvious she'd be smiling at him if these were better circumstance.

"Thanks for coming. You can call me Batgirl," she could probably just tell him her real name, but some things are ingrained in her by now and this is one of them. Maybe she'll tell him later; it's fairly likely he'll end up seeing her face at least - it's hard to be careful about that when she's living in close quarters with a bunch of people - and she remembers him talking to Babs on the network, so he's in their cohort.

She can worry about that later, there are more important things, "What can you do?"

[Martel]

[controlledvariable]

"Shit." It's short and to the point, which is all Steph can really afford at the moment. The charge display for her gun has dimmed to a low glow, which means that she has to holster it or risk it dying. Of course, holstering it risks her dying, but she has enough faith that she can handle the hulking creature in front of her.

Sort of.

The pulse gun had done minimal damage, barely slowing the creature down. She hadn't been too surprised; it'd had limited affect on assorted creatures, and sometimes Steph just wished she had some damn bullets. The Uruk Hai is in armour, with a helmet covering most of it's dark face; although Steph can see it's mouth, full of jagged, half rotted teeth. She has two or three of her weaponized batarangs left - the rest are just the sharp ones - and she doesn't want to use them unless she's absolutely desperate. Although considering the giant sword the creature is wielding, she might get desperate soon.

She's grateful for whatever her bo staff is made out of, because when the Uruk Hai takes a swing, the staff manages to block it without breaking. Taking advantage of the close distance (and ignoring the smell of blood on the uruk's breath) Steph smashes her fist into it's exposed mouth, hearing the satisfying crunch of teeth and the creature's guttural yell. She flips back out of the way before it can take a retaliating swing, regaining her feet once she's far enough away to feel... somewhat safe. That doesn't last for long, because the next thing she knows the uruk hai is charging at her, sword raised above it's head to come crashing down in the space Steph barely managed to get out of. It's quicker than it looks, considering the thick limbs and heavy armour, but Steph is fast too, and she figures this is really the only advantage she's got. As a result, the next few minutes are simply spent keeping out of the creature's reach and trying to come up with a plan of attack that might actually work.

It yells something at her, and she's not sure if it's just a meaningless battle cry or if it's a language she can't understand. Either way, it's starting to get annoyed and Steph decides to use that to press her advantage; when the next attack comes, rather than moving out of the way, she just ducks under the swing and rams her staff as hard she can up into the uruk hai's throat. There's no armour there, and it makes a choking sound, stumbling back, but the respite doesn't last long before the sword is coming at Steph's face again. She manages to block it again, staff braced between her hands.

Leaping out of the way, she puts away her staff and draws her knife in one quick movement. The uruk hai is still a little off balance, and she presses the advantage, slashing at the few exposed bits of skin on it's arms and legs. It doesn't last long before the uruk is fighting back; the damage from the knife seeming to bother it as little as the shots from the gun did.

Steph doesn't know how much longer she can keep this up, every sword swing seems to get closer, while her lunges with the knife barely connect, or the skid off armour. If she can't get a lucky break soon, she's going to have to use one of her last batarangs.

[apostatised]

The ceremonial Pandion blade isn't usually the one they take out on jaunts like this, but it is nevertheless a more than serviceable weapon that Martel has kept well-maintained since regaining it upon his arrival in Baedal. He isn't thinking, right now, about the fact that he shouldn't have it and that generations of knights are rolling in their graves at his wielding it; right now, he's thinking that his horse is far too bloody enthusiastic about hard riding through a wretched city.

“You are an unwholesome beast,” he mutters, but in fairness, Kalten is a war horse, trained and bred for this; they're alike, that way.

Coming upon Steph and the uruk hai is sheer luck, cutting through to a broader street to get a better look at what's going on above them; it takes him only a moment to assess and make a decision. The pounding of Kalten's hooves announces their presence long before he's close enough to be reaching out his arm, low to the horse's body, prepared to catch her at the elbow. It won't be a comfortable process, getting swung up behind him, but it's a move he slides into like he's had practise.

“Up,” he barks, “now.”

[controlledvariable]

She really shouldn't be as surprised as she is, considering horses aren't that rare to Baedal and of course Martel comes riding in on one. Of course. This is just how her life is now.

That doesn't mean she'll complain about it, because this is much preferable to a fight to the death when she's woefully outmatched. Steph hasn't practicsed moves like this, but she can follow instructions as simple as up, and quickly sheaths the knife so she doesn't accidentally stab Martel as she grabs on and swings up onto the back of the horse. This is also something she's lacking practise with - horses are not motorbikes - and she puts an arm around Martel's waist so she doesn't fall off the back of the horse. She hopes he doesn't get mad at her for it.

Even if he does, it's better than being on the ground with the uruk hai, which is now cursing at them in it's harsh, foul language and attempting a swing at the horse's neck.

[Kate]

[controlledvariable]

need your help, there are wolf creatures sniffing around Babs' safe house.

A map is attached to the message, marking Steph's spot on a nearby rooftop, downwind from the wolves, and then sent off the Kate. It's very early morning, and she's been patrolling the area around the safe house, to make sure there was nothing dangerous close by. She's exhausted, and would much rather be sleeping, but they've tried to keep the path to Babs' place as safe as possible, and that means these wolf things have to get chased away, or more likely, killed.

There's a pack of twelve, and while Steph thinks she could take them on alone, she'd figured it wouldn't hurt to have back up, and it's been too long since she's seen Kate (it's been two days, but that feels like too long when any second could be her last). Steph's planning to crash after this, and knowing Kate is nearby and safe will make things easier, so she'd sent the text and settled in to wait for a response, or for Kate to show up.

[joiedeviolet]

In the midst of fighting of something that looks like a cross between a grizzly bear and a guppy, Kate's CiD vibrates hard enough to distract her for a second too long and that's just enough time for her to get a nasty claw to the arm. With a muttered curse, she stabs the creature in its thigh, disabling it for a moment. Lucky for everyone involved, it runs away to lick its wounds and Kate goes the opposite way to tend to her injuries.

It's not a deep cut, but it could get infected if she ignores it, as much as Kate wants to in lieu of fighting. Hidden in a dark alleyway, she binds her bicep with her scarf, blood staining the white silk quickly, and checks her device. Steph. She could have easily guessed that it would be her, but in a time like this, it could be anybody asking for help. With a quick reply--OK--Kate double checks her makeshift bandage and works her way across the rooftops.

She can see what Steph was talking about a few building away and the only signal that Steph might notice that she's no longer alone is an arrow that slices through the night air and explodes into a net that covers two of the wolves. Hopefully, it'll be enough to hold them until they can figure out what to do with them.

[Jim]

[controlledvariable]

Life is so much easier with a gun, and Steph is constantly asking herself why she didn't get one before now. The answer is because Batman obviously, but it's not like she'd have to get one that shoots bullets; she remembers Blue Beetle having some kind of non-lethal gun and is pretty sure Babs could easily make her something similar - she probably even has the blueprints from Ted's gun.


Anyway, the point is, she's having a much easier time taking down this pack of seplavites with the pulse gun she bought from Rex than it would be to take them down with her bare hands and bo staff. It's still not easy, because there are a lot of them and it seems to take at least three shots to send each one down permanently, but she's making a dent in the twenty or so of them that have her surrounded in an empty street in Spit Hearth. Five are on the ground, not moving, and it seems to have made the rest of them a little more wary of her than they were when they first attacked. On the downside, she doesn't know how much charge is left in the gun; hopefully it's enough to last her through this fight, and then she can find a spot to rest and recharge.

[captaincocksure]

Shotguns. Shotguns are weird.

Projectile weapons in general, really--he's already fussed at Bones about the recoil. That's something phasers don't have. He figured out how to compensate for that with regard to aim and recovery for the next shot with a handgun (one of which is comfortably tucked into his waistband), but shotguns.

His shoulder aches, and he knows there'll be one hell of a bruise there. And his aim isn't the best, but the other agents at Hellsing told him that was more or less all right, with a shotgun.

He rounds the corner a short distance away and he sees the group of seplavites. He flattens himself against the building to keep cover as he counts; over a dozen, but what are they waiting for?

Oh. They've surrounded a... woman in a bat costume? Huh. Okay.

He strides toward the group, considering potential tactics. He could shout, which would certainly draw the monsters' attention, but might also distract the woman they've surrounded and cause her further problems. He decides a direct assault is in order, but he wants to give her as much warning as possible. He corrects course, giving side of the group nearest him a wide berth so he can try to get into her field of vision.