Midnight Museum Misplacement [Open]

The next bullet in, Butcher lined her shot back towards the little bit of exposed body that showed from behind the dumpster. She breathed out, about to fire again when the barrel of her gun was hit by... was that one of those batarang things? Her shot still fired, landing way off though and putting a hole in the concrete. Before she could load a third shot, there was smoke everywhere. This was a flop. Not a bad try for such short notice she decided.

"Best be on it then..."

She took the gun away, having a feeling this was going to go south. She put her gas mask on and drew her Desert Eagle from her coat. She'd flip her hood up, heading towards the fire escape... when Robin landed in front of her. The man moved fast. It didn't seem human. Was that his power, then?

"Robin. I should have guessed the chookie could get up 'er fast."

She'd say simply, pointing the gun at him. She didn't want to shoot yet. Raven's location was still unknown and every shadow was looking suspicious.

"Tell me, what's your power kid? Is it flight? Super vision? What is it that makes you tick?"

She'd reach behind her back, no doubt the hero noticed. Her hand would be on the pin of her tear gas grenade, ready to pull. Her back was against the wall, and she was about five feet away from the metal escape stairs.

"If the lass is creeping around, I reckon she should show 'erself. I don't think ya fast enuff to dodge a bullet, is yah?"

The lass would make her presence known.

The gun pointed at Robin would suddenly turn black, all of its internal components overtaken by Raven's magic, which prevented it from firing. The girl would emerge from behind Robin, briefly taking the form of a large dark raven spreading its wings, before it vanished, leaving her hovering in the air, with the wind fluttering in the remains of her cloak. Both of her hands her dark black spheres around them, with one of them used to control the spell.

"That was my favorite cloak you just ruined."

The witch girl would close her fist on one of those hands. The gun would wobble in Becca's hand before collapsing on itself, being crushed by an invisible telekinetic force, until only a handle and a mashed piece of metal remained in her hands. Raven looked over their new foe. Gasmask, which was just put on, being a dead giveaway of what was going to come next, various weapons and grenades. A black op, from the looks of things. One that was tasked to kill them.

Mercenary types, Raven hated these the most.

Raising the other hand into the air, the girl pulled over a few dozen bricks from the roof and nearby structures, making them hover in the air, pointing sharp pieces towards the foe, waiting for the mental order to strike.

"If you want to tell us about your employer and beg for mercy, now is the time."

Robin had his bo-staff at the ready, calmly staring down their new assailant despite having a gun pointed at him. He had done this dance enough times back in Gotham. Bullets? No. He was only human. Moving out of the way before the trigger was completely pressed to fire, yes. He also quickly made a mental assessment of the shooter, noting the gas mask, type of weapon, the hand behind their back, and a possible dislike for superpowered beings. Well it was a big mistake shooting at someone very close to him. "You're not the first psycho I've had to take down," Robin said simply, body tensed and ready to go.

It would have been a stand off if not for the sudden arrival of Raven, who dismantled the gun and eliminated that as an issue. Not forgetting about the other hand, Robin immediately lounged into action with an upward swing from his bo-staff. He wasn't actually aiming to hit, it was merely a feint as he followed up with a roundhouse kick to capitalize on the shift of position to try knocking them off their feet. And then he'd quickly reach into one of his pouches to put on a small portable gas mask before following up with engaging Becka. He wasn't going to let them have have the chance to make use of their deadlier weapons if he could manage.

Nina looked back and up at the fight and grinned, she noted to thank the person if she ever saw them again, this was the perfect distraction to an all in all successful plan, the fox would scamper off into the night, down various alleyways, vanishing into the night.

[OOC: And thus, Nina leaves the thread.]

When her gun turned black, Butcher pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Great. Supes and their easy answers to every damn problem. This is why they needed to be taken out. She pulled the trigger on the tear gas, keeping the canister hidden from sight on the off chance that Raven's power needed that to work.

"Ya got a lotta loonies in Gotham, eh?"

He'd attack her, and she would react rather unpredictably. With the situation, she needed him out of the way as fast as possible to get to Raven. Sacrifices need to be made. She'd catch the bo staff with her hand, her leather gloves preventing some of the force but it still took plenty of willpower not to let go at the jarring shock. Then came the kick, which she braced herself for and took the impact with a level of impressive endurance only someone with her training could pull off. It'd leave a bruise, but pain didn't hurt.

She'd yank the staff forward before Robin would have a chance to regain his footing and send a vicious headbutt towards his nose. She hoped to break it and hopefully make him drop the staff at the least. By now, the tear gas was filling the area. Surely Raven had a dozen unstoppable ways to deal with that, but hopefully it'd at least distract her a bit. She couldn't tell if Robins mask covered his eyes properly, but if not they'd be burning and swelling by now.

"Ya kids seem on different pages 'ere. One wants me ta beg. The other wants me to hurt 'em. Do ya gotta sacrifice teamwork for those filthy powers, or is it just you two?"

Kids these days. She'd try to keep her eyes on Raven, but Robin was no pushover. Even if she'd busted his nose she expected him to be coming at her again soon.

"I don't 'ave a boss, lass."

"Robin, w... Wait."

Unfortunately, too late. The boy charged right in, making the barrage of sharp stones Raven prepared useless, as in melee, the two of them were too close to try and strike the villain with such a massive barrage. As he ran in, a cloud of smoke covered both of them, making the girl float away. She was not in the direct vicinity, but the microparticles of the aerosol got to her as well, making her throat itch and eyes water a little. She could not see either of them fighting, forced to reside only on her empathic senses. Which were sketchy at best - both of them were equally angry!

From the brief exchange, though, Raven did learn a few things. One was that the woman worked alone, and she sounded genuine enough. The other was that she hated their powers. So... a grudge of some kind, but what? Raven had a good memory, and she was certain the Titans did not fight the likes of her before. Slade's former henchwoman, perhaps? Either way, the sniper was dangerous, and had to be taken down. Telepathically, she sent Robin a message, that rang in his mind:

Robin, three seconds, jump high.

That done, she began the incantation that made most villains who fought her tremble in fear.

"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!"

With that, she'd summon a giant hand of black energy to erupt from the floor, and try grabbing a large area around the two combatants with its fingers! The teargas cloud covering its emergence until it would be too late. The hand would close, and try restrain Becca... and Robin too, if he did not move out of the way!

Unfortunately for Becka for more than just the obvious reasons, Robin had plenty of hand-to-hand experience under his belt against opponents that were technically more dangerous up close. Also, remember how Robin's staff can split into two escrima sticks? Not feeling her weight fall as planned and the staff held in place, Robin gave it a twist to release the two halves before she tried to headbutt him. Robin simply backed off giving his half a quick flourish between his fingers as he stayed defiantly between Becka and the fire escape. His gasmask only covered what it needed to, though he could fight at close range without having to use his eyes after through going through one of the trials to see Chu-Hui- also known as The True Master. Didn't help the stinging much one way or the other as he "heard" Raven's message, which brought him back.

If their scottish shooter had done their homework, they'd know something was up once she started her incantation. He'd count in his head, reaching into his pouch for another gadget before crouching down and leaping as high as he could physically. If he could still see her shape standing, or moving unrestrained, there would be a flash freeze disc thrown at the ground wherever she was.

It seemed like Butcher had underestimated her opponents, mixed with a bit of bad luck. All of her attacks were dodged with a ninja's grace, and Robin seemed to have the perfect counter to everything she tried so far. It was a powerful play on the kids part. If it were just them, she'd feel confident that she could find a chink in the godlike armor around him, but with Raven there capable of doing much more... well, this was a bust. She needed to plot an escape.

The tear gas ironically bought her time to breathe, though. Neither could see her, and Raven couldn't get close since she didn't conveniently have a gas mask as well. Butcher would drop three grenades from her coat as she heard the incantation start.

The hand would clear some of the smoke, enough to reveal that Butcher was not standing there anymore and in her place... two flashbangs would go off as soon as they came into sight. Even if the two managed to look away, the extremely loud pop of the grenades to unsuspecting ears would probably be disorientating.

If they managed to avoid that, though, they'd hear metal scraping against metal. Butcher had found another exit. She was using Robin's half staff as a handhold as she slid down the gutter that was behind her. When she made it to the bottom, she'd take off in the opposite direction as the fox had, hand on her gun in case anyone managed to track her with some kind of ability.

Robin with his eyes closed and at the time of this happening still being in the air, threw a flash freeze disc at the sound of boots on the ground while he heard another sound. Grenades? They didn't sound any closer which meant she had dropped something as Robin landed and on reflex turned his back with his hands over his ears. If they were frags, the explosion would just knock him over as his cape protected him from the flames. If they were flashbangs he'd be fine because he had already had his eyes shut since the tear gas. A muffled blast with no kickback was all the answer he needed as he tried searching for Raven to see if she was still alright. He didn't want her to fall from the flashbangs disorientating her. "Raven?" If she was safe he'd call in the others to see if they could find the shooter before they got away.

The ghastly hand missed.

Raven could tell as much, as the spectral fingers locked unto nothing before disappearing into thin air. But before the girl could relocate their target, she saw two grenades lobbed into air. With the shroud of tear gas concealing them, she could not stop them mid-air as they exploded! Her eyes were filled with bright light, and a deafening explosion followed, with a sharp ring in its wake. Closing her eyes and covering her ears with hands, Raven wavered in the air, barely maintaining enough cohesion to land on the rooftop, and drop by the ventilation dome.

"Nghhh..." - she grunted, as she rubbed her eyes. A silhouette appeared in front of her. On a reflex, Raven brought her hand up to throw the person off using a telekinetic push, when her ringing ears caught a familiar voice calling out her name. It was Robin. She brought her hand down.

"Sorry... I left my guard down..." - the girl muttered, and felt another sharp pang of pain at her side, where the bullet grazed her. She brushed her hand over where the pain was felt, feeling her fingers becoming warm and slippery. In the night light of windows glowing overhead, they were glistening red. Raven had an almost guilty look on her face, before hiding the hand in the tatters of her cloak.

Still too dizzy to fly.

They hesitated to chase her, which was great for Butcher. She half expected Raven to be flying already and hunting for her. The flash bang must have hit... or the bullet wound did more damage than she originally thought. Either way, it was an opening and Butcher planned on taking it. She got to an alley about a block away quickly, finding a manhole. She pulled it up with a grunt, then crawled in and pulled the cover back when she did. She dropped down and her boots were in about 3 inches deep of filthy water.

"Ah -- Hell, that hurt..."

She cursed, rolling up her shirt. It was already purple where the boy kicked her. Bloody bastard. She walked on, knowing she'd broken a rib or two. Hopefully she'd made an escape for now.

The Teen Titans were tougher than she expected.

"It's fine. Important thing is that you're alright," Robin replied sincerely, double checking to make sure she was alright. Not just because of the flashbangs but also the actual injury that started this whole thing. It could have been a whole lot worse. Their job was already dangerous enough dealing with all of these supervillains and criminals without someone with a chip on their shoulder taking pot shots at them too. "They're probably long gone, which means we'll have to be even more careful in the future," Robin added thoughtfully.


Meanwhile down in the sewers, even though she had gotten away from The Titans, Butcher was not alone. This became evident as a shape seemed to emerge from the darkness, a burly white shape with two red eyes, and two black markings on it's mask-like face. Other than that it had literall no other discerning features about it as it started... almost mechanically at Butcher. Regardless of how she suddenly reacted to it, it set something down and quickly darted back from where it came- almost melding into it's surroundings. What it left behind was a phone with a note. The note would simply read, "Once able, turn on." It was definitely strange, and was probably referring to the fact that the reception down in the sewer was bullocks. Also the fact that a strange white... thing appeared out of nowhere probably wasn't a good sign either. But if someone was trying to kill her, the thing would have tried while she was injured and low in supplies- right?

Butcher's escape was as clean as it could be, it seemed. When she decided to rest for a bit and nurse her ribs, a... thing came from the shadows. What the Hell was that? Butcher didn't bother asking, shooting first instead. The bullets hit the... thing. Whatever it was, but it wouldn't slow or flinch. Butcher cursed, firing more until her gun made simple clicking sounds. Then she'd look for an escape only for the thing to suddenly stop. It set something down and vanished. A bomb? No no, that wouldn't make sense. Why wouldn't it just shoot her?

"Nothin' rank about this..."

She'd mumble sarcastically, spitting to the side as she picked up the phone. 'Once able, turn on.' Someone wanted her attention, then? Fair enough. She'd walk the sewers a bit longer until she spotted a ladder with a mark next to it. She'd planned this escape earlier, and knew where she was coming out. Her hideout was right above her.

When she climbed out of the sewer she was quick to get inside the back alley door some might mistakenly assume is a backroom for a store. It wasn't. Inside, the room was very spartan. A bed that didn't look comfortable, a computer, a police scanner, and a TV.

She'd turn the phone on.

After a moment or two of being turned on, the phone would immediately get called by an "unknown" number. What's more it seemed to answer automatically. "Hello, Butcher," a deep male sounding voice greeted her, his tone... knowing. "I'll skip the pleasantries for now. I know of your work, and feel like your aggression would be better served with a... helping hand," they continued cryptically. It was almost like they weren't referring to what she had recent;y been up to. "For security reasons, I cannot elaborate on my identity for now. But you have worked with one of our joint organizations before, and we are interested in recruiting you for projects to come in the future. If this doesn't interest you, you are free to continue picking fights with the locals. But if you ARE interested, further instructions will be sent to this phone," the speaker finished, a few coughs here and there between sentences. It was obvious they were still on the phone, waiting for Butcher's response.

As the phone sprang to life, Butcher let it speak as she shrugged off her jacket. She had an icepack in the freezer, and she grabbed it and iced her ribs as she listened to the voice. She was mentally deducing who it could be, but not making headway in specifics. Someone in the government for sure. They knew her and what she did, that was clear enough.

When it was clear that the voice was waiting for a reply, Butcher took her time. She lit a cigarette, taking a long drag.

"Aye, there's somethin' hummin' about ya, I swear, but I ain't really too worried about ye. If ya know what it is I do, and wanta help, then send yer instruction, laddy. If it lines up, I'll help ya."