2012-08-05 Import-Export

The Empress Hotel is not nearly as grand as its name. It's located in Gotham's Bowery, not far from Crime Alley. It has long been suspected of being a mafia front, and longer been suspected of being the home to various ladies of the night, with its charge-by-the-hour policies.

Tonight it's been figured out as both. Oracle activated Dragnet's tracker a few times to track the journey of the coffins that were unloaded from a ship registered to one of Carmine Falcone's shell companies, which departed from Kazakhstan. The coffin's held living, sedated young women which Dragnet matched from his infrared readings, as meeting the builds and heights of several missing young woman from that country. The trail stopped here.

There is a fat, bald man in a wifebeater and plaid pants held up by suspenders sitting behind the front desk. A nervous, wirey fellow in a trenchcoat is checking in. Oracle is relaying the images and speech to the Birds via the security cameras she's taken over on the premises.

"I'd like a room on the second floor," the client requests. Of note, it's only a single story building. Clearly it's code.

"Second floor is all booked up," the manager grunts back through the cigar clenched in his teeth.

"I'm ok sharing with another occupant," the client countersigns.

The manager finally looks up and snorts. He pulls a different sign-in book from a locked drawer in the desk, and sets out two dozen polaroids of young women. They all match Kazakhstani missing persons and they all look drugged in the images. "What's your flavor?" he asks the client. "These twelve are fresh off the boat, so they're a double charge. The rest are the usual fee of $250 an hour."

Behind the keys Oracle swallows past a lump in her throat. || "I don't know how heavily they're guarded, but they're being held in rooms in the basement," || she reports to her operatives. That is where the real business of the motel is done, while the rentals on the visible floor are just for cover.

"Right." Batwoman acknowledges. She keeps her gaze trained on the men, expression hardening with each word that is spoken. By the time the pictures come out, she might as well be made of stone. She moves just enough to ask, "Is there more than one access to the basement?" Though she assumes not, it never hurts to ask. She glances at her companions, pondering other options while she waits for an answer.

Huntress stays still and silent next to Batwoman, her own expression stony. She's got her game face on, because she'd really really love to just go down there and kick those guys' asses into next year. But she knows she's got to wait for the go ahead. Damn that Oracle.

Black Canary adjusts her gloves and flinches as the information being forwarded before fear is pushed aside by soft snarl of anger. "Scum!" She whispers harshly and balls her hands into fists, cracking the knuckles. She gives her body a last warm up and a knowing, harsh smile is directed at Huntress.

After months of teaching herself to fight crime with keen eyes and quick thumbs before resorting to violence, Spoiler has found herself in a situation that no number of photos or retweets could possibly ameliorate.

It doesn't much help that Stephanie Brown is supposed to be sound asleep in a hotel room in Metropolis, resting up for another day of grueling gymnastics drills.

"So--do we just..." She looks down from the screen and swallows, grateful for her mask as her meekly uttered inquiry trails away.

|| "Not on the official plans, Batwoman. There might be access that wasn't drawn in and filed via the city," || Oracle admits. || "The manager will show the new client to his room. That's when you should go in. He keeps the key cards for the cells in the safe behind the photo on the wall." ||

Sure enough, the client points at a brunette and signs in while the manager opens the safe and pulls out a key card with a VII on it. Number 7. When the money has changed hands, he leads the man down a hall to a stairwell and hands him the key. "Down there. One hour. Any longer and I sick our muscle on you, pal."

The client skitters down the steps.

"Understood." Batwoman looks at the others, nods, and heads inside. She hurries to the photo, gesturing for Huntress and Black Canary to keep an eye on the manager and for Spoiler to follow her. At the photo, she pulls out a couple of her miniature detonators, slapping one on the door of the safe and looking to Spoiler while she waits for it to do its work. "Are you ready for this?" She asks softly, her tone cerfully kept neutral, her voice quiet enough not to carry.

Huntress nods to Batwoman and moves quickly and quietly to where she can watch for the manager's return, one hand already resting on her crossbow and ready to fire on a split-second's notice.

Following Batwoman quickly the Canary posts up, her back against the wall near the opening that leads down the stairs the manager went and looks over to Spoiler. "We've got you girlfriend" she says with a nod and turns her eyes over to Huntress. She takes a breath and exhales slowly.

Once they're inside - and she has a second to rest from having dragged her stiff self after the nimble Batwoman - Spoiler gives the detective a small nod, then turns away to press her fingers to her ears. "We--just need to hit some guys in the face," she murmurs. "Hard."

Barbara Gordon watches her operatives move in with cold sweat running between her shoulder blades. They haven't had a chance to work together as a team yet, and there are unknowns involved in this operation. Falcone has kept the information on this place locked down so tight, Oracle hasn't been able to get much to work with. She's concerned about the muscle the manager mentioned. || "Everyone be on alert. If he has muscle they could have automatic weapons. T-Minus one minute until he's back," || she warns. || "Huntress, you're going to need to take him down quietly, and make sure he doesn't alert anyone. He'll call downstairs, let him finish the call, so they don't think something is up." ||

The manager opens a heavily locked fire door at the next landing, and watches the client go down a second set of stairs, then he locks the door once more, with four keys, before he begins strolling back up the stairs towards the office. He pulls out a cell phone, hits a button, and reports to whomever is with the girls. "Client for number 7. One hour." Click, he hangs up.

Batwoman places a hand on Spoiler's shoulder and gives her a nod. She says nothing more. Maybe because there's nothing to say at this point, maybe because that's when the safe 'pops' and is ready to be opened. Prying the door open, she reaches in and grabs all the keys she sees. She hands them to Spoiler while sweeping the safe for anything else that might prove useful, then gives the women another nod. "Time to go, ladies." Letting Huntress lead the way, she joins her and Black Canary at the stairs.

"May I please now, mommy?" Huntress whispers all but silently, knowing the little comm unit Oracle gave her will still pick it up. She's got her crossbow out and she's ready to shoot the manager in the throat. That'll for sure keep him from sounding any alarms. But then Batwoman and Spoiler show up and that idea has to get scrapped. She nods and prepares to take point down the stairs. Not much worse than a typical night's patrol so far."

Black Canary looks to Huntress and flicks her eyes to one side towards the stairs. Her baby blues go back to Huntress with the slightest nod as she crouches, preparing to strike and strike low. She takes a deep breath and quickly wipes sweaty palms on her fishnets before the action errupts.

Hearing the manager clomping up the stairs, she holds up one fist to tell the others to wait a moment, then as soon as he's through the door at the top of the stairs a small and fast wooden dart flies for his throat. Get to skewer him after all!

Spoiler tenses up when she hears the warning about automatic weapons--and because Batwoman's hand is on her shoulder, she glances up at the pale vigilante for a moment before lowering her head and slipping just far enough away to break contact. "Don't worry," she quietly assures, "I--"

Before she knows it, the safe is open, and she has a bunch of key cards to shove into her utility pods as she and Batwoman head towards the stairs; she starts and nearly drops a couple when Huntress tries to shoot the manager in the throat.

They - thanks to still being in her hands when she hastily claps them over her mouth - wind up muffling a clipped cry of shock.

The two fire doors are soundproofed, as is the floor between the street level and the basement. It would have to be to prevent legit customers from reporting any screams from below. Oracle has taken that into consideration and isn't terribly worried about the guy squawking or the safe blowing alerting anyone.

The safe Batwoman opens has almost two dozen keycards and stacks of cash. || "Leave the money," || Oracle advises. || "Once you have the girls safe and secure I'll be calling in the GCPD to mop up. They'll need the evidence if this is going to go anywhere." ||

Oracle's attention is snapped back to Huntress as she tries to fatally shoot the manager. || "Huntress! What are you doing? We discussed the killing thing!" ||

Fortunately for the manager the bolt hits his bling. He grabs at his bruised throat and gags, clutching it in pain.

Batwoman leaves the money with a nod. She glances at Huntress as she hear's Oracle again. Having assumed that the dart was a tranquilizer, she is surprised, but she doesn't argue. What does make her frown is that the manager still has the ability to sound the alarm. So she steps forward, aiming a swift kick at the man's head to knock him out.

Holy crap. Talk about the luck of the sleezeball. But, it'll make for a good excuse. "What do you think I am, stupid? I was aiming for that ugly necklace on purpose." Of course, that kind of hit to the trachea even while not that severe looking, may still be fatal if swelling in his throat blocks his ability to breathe. But that's none of her concern. She steps past and to the sound proofed door to proceed further.

Black Canary follows up Batwoman's high kick to the Manager's head with her own low sweep, coming from behind him to help him follow his backward momentum. She watches him for a moment before hefting him back up to pull him towards his chair. She tosses her hair out of her face and looks at Spoiler. "I don't suppose we thought to bring rope?" She asks as her arms loop through his.

Spoiler charges forward to join them in hitting the guy, but she's a few steps too slow, prompting her to skid to a stop and check on him; before she can see much more than the fresh bruise spreading over his throat, though, Canary is dragging him away. Without a word, she nudges her cape aside to reveal a coil of rope on her hip, then unhooks and tosses it to her fellow Bird. She lingers in the hall for a little while, watching Dinah - or, more accurately, trying to get a better look at the guy's throat - before backing up a few steps to the stairs.

The manager goes down from Batwoman's kick, and is then swept by Canary. When Dinah sets him in his chair she can see he has a key ring on his belt with the keys to the fire door locks.

Oracle grimaces behind her computer keyboard. She and Huntress both know that the manager's survival wasn't intentional. She cracks her knuckles and lets out a breath. She might need to have Dinah work out with Huntress to put her right.

The manager's throat looks badly bruised but not so bad that he'll need a trach to breathe.

Batwoman turns to give Spoiler an approving smile. After the rope is passed to Canary, she holds out a gloved hand for the keys, "Lets each take a few keys. We can start with one cell, see how the girl reacts to us. If it goes smoothly we can split up and get as many as we can before they catch on." She looks to the others, waiting for their reactions to her proposed plan before putting it into action. "And keep your eyes open for an alternate exit. It could come in handy."

"Ohh, don't these look pretty." The Canary murmurs as she unhooks the keys of the Manager's belt. The big guys always go down like kittens. She gives them a toss in Batwoman's direction and begins tying the Manager into his chair. It's a minuet or so of quick work and she stands to walk away. She pauses recalling Spoiler's concern and turns to check the guy over and fashion him a gag."

"Alright, but--" Spoiler looks from Batwoman - with her deathly pale skin, blood-red lips, and black costume - to Huntress - who may or may not have just committed attempted murder; beneath her mask, she's grimacing. After some hesitation, she starts to reach for the bottom edge of her own mask, only to stop herself and spin around to face--

"Canary!" She hustles over and pushes those last few keycards into the Bird's hands as she hisses her name. "Let's just--" She quickly looks between Dinah and the other two women, then settles on Batwoman. "I mean, we can be /behind/ her? But I--am--/pretty/ sure that she's the first person they should see..." she quietly suggests.

At the end of the hall are a quartet of goons with pistols in holsters, playing poker on a rickety card table, sitting in folding chairs.

|| "Ladies, if you can take care of the muscle, Spoiler, can you see if you can get into room 7 and take down the civilian?" || Oracle queries.

Batwoman gives Spoiler a nod, both of encouragement and to acknowledge the implication of her look upstairs. She doesn't respond to Oracle verbally, instead choosing to move silently along the hall toward the goons. When she is closer, she puts on her most seductive-souning voice and asks, "Mind if we join you, gentlemen?" The question is followed immediately by a flying kick aimed at the nearest man.

Huntress was shadowing Batwoman, and after Oracle's first (and possibly not last) scolding of the night, she leaves her crossbow holstered. She lets the redhead take the lead, and as soon as she starts her flying kick, a second of the goons becomes Huntress's target. Hand to hand it is. This sucks.

Black Canary picks her own target and strikes with the heel of her hand, moving to break the man's nose even as her weight shifts back to prepare a harsh front kick to the man's knee caps. She puts her back to the Huntress to better watch the fourth man cautiously.

As the rest of team splits off to do their jobs, Spoiler darts through the fracas en route to Room 7; somewhere along the way, she managed to find a taser among her utility pods, and when she arrives, the thing is sparking readily in hand as she throws the door open,

It doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out /whose/ ribs - between the poor Kazakhstani girl and wirey john - to jam the stungun into after charging into the room.

The heads of the goons snap up in concert at the sound of Batwoman's voice. At first, they look delighted to see a hot chick in a costume. Then they recognize the symbol on her chest and all go about 3 shades paler. They leap to their feet, cards and card table flying, and reach for their pistols.

Goon One gets his pistol kicked out of his hand, and a broken wrist, from Batwoman's kick.

Goon Two gets his chin snapped back by Huntress' attack, his pistol firing into the ceiling harmlessly.

Goon Three has blood shoot from his broken nose when Canary does her strike at his face. He staggers back a step, his non-gun hand going to his nose.

Goon Four doesn't take chances. He rushes to a barred door behind the table and slams on a BIG RED BUTTON. It slides open ominously.

Spoiler gets inside cell 7 to find a doped up young woman sitting on the end of the bed, and the bathroom door opens and the man from the office, who was in a trench coat, emerges to reveal he's now in a Mexican Wrestler costume. (No, it's not Bane.) He slowblinks at the costumed girl. "Is it two for one night?" he asks. Then he's tasered and ends up on the floor twitching spastically.

|| "Spoiler, get the girls out of the cells and upstairs to one of the normal rooms," || Oracle advises. That door opening has her very, very worried for the safety of the youngest Bird.

Batwoman follows her kick with a punch to the face of Goon one, then spins to face Goon four. Too late. Lips thinning as he gets to the button, she glances swiftly at Huntress and Canary. Things are about to get rough. She launches herself over the table as though it were a pommel horse, legs swinging up and around to kick Goon four in the back of the head before he can do any further damage. Then she prepares to face the oncoming. Whatever it may be.

Huntress sees the fourth goon start to make a dash for it and tries to go after him. Of course, she's already got one goon in her way, so she aims an elbow at his head to take him down quickly. Batwoman does that olympic gymnast thing and good four's being dealt with. She's not thinking about what that now open door might mean. Not yet, anyway

"Grah!" Canary grunts as she snaps a kick high hoping to leave her bloodied goon seeing stars before she turns about to take stock of the situation and focuses on the door. Her voice comes out in a husky rumble. "Don't suppose you know whats under door number one girlfriend?" as she walks up to the Huntress's side and settles into a martial arts stance.

"--El Hijo del Zorro?!" the surprised Spoiler squeaks after the first round of zapping. She hesitates just long enough for her eyes to dance over his garish costume, then squats down and jams the taser into his gut. "My dad used to send me your stupid postcards from stupid Mexican jail!"

She kicks the guy in his ribs for good measure after hopping to her feet, then grab's the girl's hand and tries to lead her out as quickly as the drugs will let her.

"C'mon, c'mon, come on..." she hisses, weaving through the chaos to get to the stairs. When the Khazikstani girl is close enough to make it upstairs on her own, Spoiler breaks away to start checking the other rooms; she will shepherd them, too, as long as her team keeps giving her the cover she needs.

Spoiler gets number 7 to the stairs, and she has the cards to get the other doors open. Each one has a girl in various states of drugged sedation. Some will need more help than others.

Goon One is clutching his broken wrist when he gets punched in the face. He falls to the floor in a puddle of zzzzs.

Goon Two tries to turn his pistol on Huntress, snapping off a shot despite his possibly broken jaw, before he goes down.

Goon Three goes down under Canary's kick and is laid out flat.

Goon Four gets kicked in the back of the head and his face slams into a wall. He slides down it, unconscious, but the real damage has already been done.

Out of the barred door comes an unpleasant sound, somewhat of a growl. A shadow moves from inside, massive enough to fill the opening completely. There is a slithery scraping of something across a stone floor as the occupant of the room beyond comes forward, having to DUCK to clear the top of the doorframe. Yellow, slitted eyes become visible in the darkness as they focus on the Birds of Prey as if they look very, very tasty.

Clawed, scaly hands reach out to grab either side of the doorframe, and a nine foot creature hauls its muscled form, clad in nothing but a tattered pair of pants, into the hallway. The scaly green, elongated head has a mouth filled with long, jagged fangs. A long, thick tongue snakes out to taste the air. Killer Croc, the true muscle guarding this operation, bellows in rage.

Batwoman falls in with Huntress and Canary, sliding into her own defensive stance as she hears the sounds coming from the door. When the owner of the growl appears, she goes still for a second. Its a good thing, at this point, that no one can see how big her eyes have gotten behind the mask. Her voice, though, can easily be heard. "What... the... "

Huntress yelps as the goon manages to fire a shot at her and it proves that her outfit isn't nearly as well-armored as anything the Bat or his ilk usually sport, and she's got a NEW bullet graze to complain about. "Screw you, HAL, the kid gloves are off." Luckily for the goon, he's down for the count now so Huntress's crossbow is levelled at ... "What. The hell. is that?"

Black Canary gulps and settles back, intimidated by the large-uh-man. She squeezes her hands as she looks between the crocidile man and Spoiler rescuing the girls. "Aaaaahh!" The Canary charges the man and jumps into the air. "Get ready to plug your ears ladies!" She lands and exhales sharply. Her eyes look up to the croc and she inhales deeply, a hand goes to her throat as she prepares to Cry.

As the Black Canary pauses she see's her opportunity and goes for a slid between the croc's legs. She pivot's coming up and jumps onto Killer

As the Black Canary pauses she see's her opportunity and goes for a slid between the croc's legs. She pivot's coming up and jumps onto Killer Kroc, scrambling up his back. She inhales sharply and Cries into his ear loud enough to drop the large man.

Spoiler zips between the rooms as quickly as the girls themselves allow, ticking each room off in her head as she evacuates it. Eventually, she reaches a point where there's only /one/ door - albeit a markedly more secure one - to contend with. Spoiler springs from the third step, intent on dashing over to check it out... only to find that the door is already open when her feet touch the ground.

/Whatever/ Killer Croc is, Roman Falcone probably didn't bring him here for his feminine charms; the young vigilante takes a step back and plants her heel on the edge of the bottom-most stair.

"Wh-" she stammers, sliiding her foot back down to level ground. "what d--"

Wait, plug--?

Spoiler /barely/ gets her hands up in time to keep her eardrums from being collateral damage and winds up slumping against the stairwell wall rather when the initial burst threatens to knock her on her ass.

Barbara Gordon swears with her comm off, using language her dad would surely wash her mouth out for. She toggles the comm back on. || "All right ladies, that is Killer Croc. He's strong, he's tough, he's mean, but he's also incredibly stupid. Use your heads, keep him flanked. If that room was designed to hold him, we need to get him back inside it," || Oracle barks out over the comms.

Canary is way ahead of her though. As Dinah screams into Croc's ear hole, her sonic cry disorients him so badly he staggers back, into his cell, and falls to the ground clutching his head. That leaves an opening for Dinah to get out, and the girls to slam that button again to lock him inside.

Spoiler gets the girls upstairs to safety before the Cry goes off.

Batwoman, remembering Canary telling her about this power before, clasps her hands quickly to the sides of her face. Her eyes widen at the effect of the cry, which she hadn't actually /seen/ yet. Again, she is glad her expression is hard to see, Dinah has certainly surprised the red-haired Bat. And she's also gotten him back into that room in seconds. "Excellent." Dropping her hands, she springs forward to hit the button that will lock him back in, calling out to Canary before she does, "Lets go! Huntress, head upstairs and make sure there isn't anyone else to block our exit!"

Huntress is ready to fire as many bolts as she can at the giant croc thing when Miss Fishnets gets right up in the monster's face. She was NOT given any more than that briefest of warnings, and thus suffers a bit of it. Cursing harshly, she turns to do as was just snapped at her and heads for the stairs quickly, one hand going to the bullet graze she's hoping no one else notices.

Black Canary drops away from Croc as he drops and she rolls away from the door. She pushes up off the floor and sprints up to the stairs on the Huntresses heels.

Spoiler is /completely fine/ with letting Batwoman and Black Canary handle Croc; before the latter leapt into action, she was trying to figure out how many entire cans of pepper spray she need have to shove into the beastman's gullet before he falls over or bites her arm off.

It's not /exactly/ the kind of math problem they teach in Gotham High.

As soon as Croc is dealt with, she turns and bounds up the stairs to start scouting the public part of the hotel out.

|| "I have GCPD en route, along with ambulances, and Gotham General on standby for the girls," || Oracle reports. || "Throw the goons in one of those cells down there and make sure the victims are safe in a regular motel room they can lock until the cops get there. We need to keep surveillance outside in case releasing Croc notified someone and there have backup coming." ||

Babs smiles grimly, the Birds did well tonight. || "Any of our team injured? I can get Leslie Thomkins to stand by for us if so," || she asks.

Batwoman follows instructions quickly, grabbing goons by the handful (though really she can't manage more than two at once, and even that is difficult) and hurling them into the cells. Once they're all locked away she hurries back up the stairs after Huntress, "I'm fine." She reports, unable to say if the others are injured or not. "Spoiler, Huntress, see if you can find the regular room keys?" Now that she's over her OMG WTF fear of Croc, her voice is far less commanding.

Huntress gets back to the public part of the hotel and takes a moment while she's out of everyone else's eyeshot to hastily pull a bundle of gauze from a pouch on her belt along with a camoflaugey bit of black fabic so it won't be obvious. She holds the gauze to the graze on her ribcage as she proceeds on to the front desk. One good thing at least. This crappy old hotel hasn't gone to the keycard system yet. That makes finding the keys quicker. She sets them on the countertop for Spoiler then mutters mostly to herself. "I'm going home."

Black Canary trundles up the stairs and towards the Managers desk, checking that his still cozy in his chair before sticking her head out the door to check the front entrance. "I think we're good girls." Her voice comes out as a croak, harsh and blown out. She clears it with a small grimace and says "I haven't done that in a while." She leans up against the desk.

In lieu of swinging by the desk to grab the keys, Spoiler heads right down the hall and crouches in front of the first door she finds, retrieves one of the brothel's keycards, and slips it into the whisper-thin space between the door and its frame. She gingerly slides it around for a few seconds, jiggling the door handle until--

* CLICK*

--the door swings open.

The things a young girl learns when her father is barely-present a criminal.

She'll keep popping doors until the girls are all situated a few to a room; once she's done, she drags herself back to the rest of the group, looking remarkably less spry now that there aren't any automated weapons or murderous lizardmen to get her adrenaline going. "I think that's everyone..." she murmurs, looking up at Batwoman.

|| "Great job, ladies," || Oracle notes. || "Everyone make yourselves scarce, GCPD scheduled to arrive in T-minus 90 seconds. Contact me if you need further help tonight. Oracle out." ||