2013.06.05 - The Hunt Begins

Gotham by night isn't all that different from Gotham by day. It's a dark city all around and seems to be trapped in perpetual gloom, whether it's clouds, smog or simple darkness the city seems to forever be a realm of shadow. Great for all the night crawlers, predators and hunters Gotham attracts. This night no different. It's still and calm beyond the usual life of the city.

It has been almost exactly fifteen minutes and counting since the chase begin, since the /hunt/ started. Since White Tiger caught her first animal like pang of danger when a hail of darts was launched at her from an overhanging canopy of darkness where trees cross thatched across one another several blocks away.

"Run kitty. Let us begin the hunt." Those being the words she was given before the hallucinations began. Before the one dart in that stream she was assaulted with managed to strike it's mark.

"Be on the look out. Civilians are being attacked by a white costumed female, suspect stands five ten consider armed and dangerous. Proceed with caution. Last seen moving westbound Coventry along Tolliver boulevard."

High above the streets a masked man awakens from his brief slumber to stand and stretch. A smooth yet strong voice is heard on an encrypted, secure channel to the select few and elite who have access. "Anyone else catch that? I'm going to check it out." Movement and the black clad figure plummets towards the streets below like some raptor diving for prey.

"Yes." The single word, almost devoid of inflection, a bit scratchy and harsh with disuse, comes across the channel as the Batgirl answers Nightwing. What she actually might have gotten from the translation software in her HUD is really anyone's guess but she usually seems able to get the gist of things. Long hours of frustrating practice has given the quiet young woman only a handful of words.

The younger Bat was already on the move when the call came in, and it's an easy thing to throw out another line, a yank of her hand changing her direction as she heads towards Coventry. The wind pulls her cape out behind her until the scalloped edges seem to blend in with Gotham's shadows as she swings over the dark city's rooftops.

Nights were typically a time of peace for White Tiger. Where she can gather her thoughts, and right any wrongs in her path, enjoy the thrill of /her/ hunt. But now she is the object of a hunt, one that has her being the object of tonight's big game hunt. From her perch on a roofs ledge the pelting began, ones that had a single dart embedding in the cracking stucco of the city building and making her gaze snap downward to it.. She ran, instinct has her using the citys scaffolding as a hold, something to leap and swing from as the small *tink* noises batter the metal behind her and one hits.

Not long, a straight feed into her bloodstream whatever is in the dart has begun to take its toll and everything blurred together mid-leap, her hands missing the hold of the fire escape where she plummeted a couple stories to the ground, hitting it with a harsh impact and a sputter of blood from her lips that only resembled a colored paint in her sight.

"Shit, I'm bleeding rainbows, this isn't good." Wiping her lips she is pushing to a stand, sticking to the streets and alleys as she runs and flees the footfalls and 'cat-calls' of her pursuer. Those that still milled along the streets were not even safe to the sheer running force the woman took when she burst from the alley, using one as a gripping stabilization for the rapidity in which she makes her turn, throwing him into oncoming traffic as se launches off of his body and hits the wall of a building with a resounding *crack!* Not even that stops her as cars shriek to a halt and honk, other people screaming as she casts them aside like rag dolls or just runs them over like a freight train, the amulet casting an eerie green glow from her eyes encircled in the white and black striped mask.

White Tiger's movements are fast. Faster than normal human abilities are capable of and somehow being matched. The drugged state she is in probably keeps her from realizing she is being herded like an animal. A dart here, a shot there, even a spear is thrown at her at one point. The cops only seem to add assistance to this as their red and blue lights are useful in keeping anyone mobile. Especially those with something to hide like the White Tiger herself The Zoo lies ahead, darkness and no people. No loud noises, no confusion, darkness and seclusion. It has to be the only logical place to go right now? Hallucinogen addled minds could even agree to that.

"Where did you go kitty? I can smell your fear. I can already taste your blood." The taunt from behind her. Her pursuer. The stalker who has been carefully yet skillfully chasing her towards this destination.

A graceful sweep and mid air half turn has Nightwing landing on the lip of a building, kneeling down he picks up a dart. A sniff and it held up. The HUD system in his visor already triangulating possible directions it may have come from and finding another a rooftop away. Picking up in a quick run broken up by acrobatic leaps or zip line assisted glides.

Batgirl on the other hand is fortunate enough to actually catch visible imagery of White Tiger scattering pedestrians about like bowling pins in her running rampage through the streets of Gotham. She's trained for things like this, trained to recognize body language. This is not exactly the run of someone out to murder and maim, this looks more like the run of someone trying to survive. The white clad vigilante's pursuer still unseen.

No, no clue she is being herded. White Tiger's mind is slowly slipping to where the only thing she can hear is that voice, the sirens, her own pounding heartbeat and breath... And birds, the cawing of crows everywhere. Where the hell did the crows come from? In reality it is just the other noises, the people, the sight - that shadows moving under the shifting of the police cruiser's lights. But to her, the world was warping and spinning, too loud, too much and it is making her sick amongst the panic that is rising the blood pressure to a roar in her ears.

The objects being thrown at her are carefully being dodged, that spear streaking just in front of her to make her path abruptly change, veering off into traffic in a clamor on all fours like the tiger she is dressed as, stumbling in front of a cab that comes screeching to a halt, the headlights turning into mottled sparkles in her gaze. The blaring honk making her scream in response, like she is yelling back at the beast in front of her, one hand pushing forward to punch and slam through the plastic radiator grate, green fluid leaking down over her hand and onto the street in a spray.

Leaping upward White Tiger lands on a car that had stopped, another flash of a camera as the passerby had stopped to take pictures, something that makes her yell again, ripping the camera from his grip and slamming it upside the pedestrians head. Stopped traffic causing another car to screech to a halt, but the driver not noticing soon enough and it is headed right for her, making her leap in the air and land on its roof, a con-caving thud and force of her weight upon the metal top just before she leaps off, somersaulting to the ground to land crouched and on all fours, hands and arms spread as if in a push up position with legs tucked as another dart whizzes past her head.

Let the chase commence, but now it is taking place in the calm of the zoo, the animal kingdom... Or at least different breeds of animals...

Absolute darkness and cover are things offered in the Gotham Zoo at these hours. For the animals of course. It also keeps out trespassers. As White Tiger continues her sprint so does the chase, police cars at the end of the road are cruising through the street, as long as she stays in the open the police will be on her. It's one squad car in particular that gets extremely unlucky and too close to the prey a javelin like spear appears jutting through it's front tire causing it to skid off the road and slam with a loud crunch in to several parked cars. This is not their hunt.

Nightwing is still not close enough to make out White Tiger nor her stalker as they vanish in to the Gotham Zoo the trail, speared car included, are fairly obvious however.

Predator and Prey. Something she -knows- more intimately in the change she takes at night, or by day if the true need arises. But right now only the need for solace and peace supersedes anything else. To live, to escape the crows, the stinging insects and the /voice/. From her sprint down the center yellow line of the road to a large spanning leap she hits the roof of a parked car in front of the zoo and springs from it to cling to a fence that was meant to keep trespassers out. Just on the other side is the zoo, the silence, perhaps safety. Scaling it her limbs are beginning to shake, her breathing waver and her grip weaken. Her eyes are seeing her pulse in its rapidity, like the flashing lights long behind her and that blood-rushed screaming in her ears is not quelling, its replacing any other sound.

Gripping the top of the fence barbed wire bites into her palms, piercing through skin and tearing it as she still moves, swinging herself up and over the metal security in an acrobatic flip, one that does not land this Tiger on her feet completely. Instead she hits and crumples to her knees, falling forward only to low crawl into nearby brush...

The Zoo is as quiet as expected upon these hours. Night calls from animals dying down at the presence of intruders. She has landed in a copse of grass to her left are trees to her right the sidewalk. The only lighting is that of the moon and what is reflecting from the city beyond, low ambient. It makes it hard to see but she always has her instincts and heightened senses. Something within is not right. Unsafe.

Aside from the obvious madman pursuing her.

All she has to do is stay still, stop moving and she could hide, blend, wait it out until it is safe. But it is not safe, nothing about this seemed as comfortable as se had hoped before she cleared the fence. Pushing through the brush she remains as low as she can, her eyes flashing that eerie incandescent green as they flicker over her surroundings, trying to regain composure. All in her head, all oif this, down to this feeling, not right... Nothing is, and beneath the fitting of the costume her skin is crawling, making her want to rip it off, or at least the costume.

White Tiger is skirting entering deeper or staying close to the edge, but glancing back towards the city holds no higher promise, not much more then the darkness that awaits before her and calls her in deeper.

Preternatural awareness is the first warning sign the second is the snarl as something large, coated in fur and sheathed in muscle leaps at her. It's pounce something she is all too familiar with as claws rend and sharp teeth descend. A cat, not just any cat, a very large predator cat, a lioness.

Nightwing has just now hit the security booth, empty, the man who should be inside nowhere to be found but signs of a brief scuffle are obvious immediately. A flipped chair, a broken chunk of bloody finger, a discarded mag light and no lights, even the pathways for the guards are shut down.

"Batgirl, play distraction and be on standby. Something isn't right here and the police will just get in the way. Keep them out of here until I figure out what is going on." However she'll manage that he is sure she'll come up with something. Words finished he disappears in the to darkness of the zoo.

There is no mistaking the sound of a predator. Silent at first until it is too late to know what is happening. no warning in the hunt until it is too late - or a miscalculation is made. the only saving grace is that shaky, yet slightly enhanced ability for white Tiger to move. When she heard that sound from above she not only made to bolt, but leap to the side, clamoring through the bushes and down a path. It is a bad thing to run, but at this point after this amount of time, this is all she knew, all that has kept her safe and alive and the lioness was something she did not expect. Stopping at the path she looks in an animals pen and turns, her back to it and her sight back down the path she had come, trying to strain her senses to catch any sounds of it, though once aain her pulse is rising.

No longer where the lioness was attacking it turns and gives chase after the White Tiger. Not alone she can see another off to the side, moving around a bench before springing up on to it and letting out a roar at the White Tiger. Two, two that she can see. They're hunting her. They think she is prey or a threat?

"They do not recognize you. Not even by smell. I had figured I would make it more interesting. The dart I hit you with also had pheromones on in it. You smell very offensive to them right now. A threat even, something invasive to their territory. They are so incensed with the mixture they forget they themselves are freed captives." That voice taunts. "How do you fair against other felines? Are you even worthy of being hunted by me? If you cannot survive them you are beneath my talents."

Nightwing is not far off at all now. He just passed the snake cave entry and can actually hear the hunters voice now. A line launched out he pulls himself up to one of the overhanging posts that acts as a suspension for netting over a larger containment. One for the Giraffes. Perching there he tries to scan for the source only to finally see his the Tigress and the two circling African lions but no huntsman.

The voice gets no response, not a word from White Tiger as she makes to move, slowly from the gate she holds her back to, only to keep it there but move along its length, freezing as the second on appears and roars. Blinking her eyes in their glowing frenzy disappear and reappear, as if she is trying to ensure this is not a dream, or blink away the reality. She is cornered to an extent and trying to make her way from it, but with each slow pace she takes down the line it is met by the first lioness, the second springing from its higher perch on the bench to follow and gain flanking, ensuring the way she is going is blocked off now - bringing White Tiger to a halt.

Lips part as if she would whisper to them, try and ease the beasts down, but instead her tongue sweeps across as eyes flicker between the two. Hands flex, the claws in the tips of once-torn and now bloodied gloves emerging. If she is going to die she will do it like any other predator would, fighting. Her options taken from her and the game reaching its climax she moves from the gate, her steps shaky yet steadying as one closes in behind her now where she left the gap, picking up pace behind her as her walk moves into a run towards the first, her own roaring yell sounding as she lunges for the first that springs to meet her head on.

The circling is met with a sudden turn and spring from the first Lioness as she launches herself for White Tiger. The other lunging in a heartbeat after the first. They're not quite accustomed to fighting something on two legs that fights back but they'll manage. They're beasts made for killing other creatures. And kill is all they want to do right now.

It's here that Nightwing knows he needs to step in, whoever is playing /evil announcer/ will have to wait. A smoke pellet erupts between the second lioness and White Tiger. Unfortunately a little too slow in his reaction time to aid with the first.

Perhaps White Tiger has gone mad to face off beasts that outweigh her by nearly three times, and on two legs would definitely surpass her height. Weapons... Their appendages, their natural base instincts, she is outclassed in likely all of those if it was not for the amulet - that thing that made her her own predatory beast. The drugs and their coil on her mind made her more brazen, made her feel less and keep reacting when she should not, when even she should be well aware of her and her amulets limitations.

A frenzied blur as that first lioness impacts her, the other lost in its confusion by the rising plume of smoke, thrown for that brief amount of time that hindered it drawing first blood. White Tiger's breath is lost in the force that she hits the ground beneath the lioness, her legs curling up between her body and that heavy furred one atop her. As large jaws attempt to come down on her face a clawed hand sweeps up, a swipe taken for the animals eyes as her legs spring up, trying to kick it off. Too busy trying to live to notice another has joined the losing team.

Arms outstretched a fighting stick in both hands Nightwing lands in the center of that smoke bomb a crackle coils up and down both weapons before he strikes out catching the lioness not attacking White Tiger in the snout and neck. One then another followed by a few more rapid successive hits that cause the electrical trail to taze along it's frame forcing a shudder through it as it wobbles and sways fighting off the jolts causing spasms through it's muscles and nervous system. Those hits cease though as it looks like it's battling it. He will not kill the animal anymore has a chance of that. Scare it and make it think twice about attacking again though, definitely.

The cat who is attacking White Tiger goes rolling across the cobblestone pathway only to pick itself back up quickly and begin snarling. Shoulders rolling back as if it looks like it's about to pounce again.

Nightwing positions himself between it and White Tiger with both of those crackle poppinig teched out Escrima sticks. Making sure to touch them together here and there. "Don't worry, lion taming is on my resume. Just hang in there, I'm trying to figure this out." An assurance to himself and White Tiger while he scans for the culprit behind all of this.

"You had a friend with you?" The /voice/ asks, "Very interesting." Slight annoyance audible in the man's voice. "I had heard this city was infested and ripe for hunting. I had not anticipated for two at once." Above and now visible a man steps forward, tall, powerfully built and lean with a fur covered shoulder and brimming with weapons, a spear, a wrist launcher, a rifle over one shoulder. His dark hair pulled back in to an extremely tight pony tail and upon his face a goatee. He is standing away from them on one of the walls housing larger mammals, Nightwing remembering correctly recalls it being the Hippo habitat. "Unfortunately I was not prepared to flying pests as well as cats this day.'

Outside the zoo walls red and blue lights can be seen swirling, the sirens grown louder.

"I was not prepared for any of this, so now we're even." Though she did not know who it was tha is aiding her she gathers herself up off of the ground and wipes at her lips with the back of her sleeve, those eyes flickering between a stable and natural golden green and that eerie animistic glow that held primordial backing. White Tiger glances sidelong at Nightwing and his weaponry, assessing his movements, his poise and the way the lions reacted to it.

Despite it all her pulse still beat in her ears, she could nearly taste the adrenaline force that made her breathing deepen and set her in a constant state of unconscious panic... She couldn't stop it, nor that movement around the edges of her vision that lights only enhanced as the police closed in at the gates, making the shadows warp and shift around her and that noise...Both hands clapped up at her head, fingers curling and biting into her temples to make it stop, for the briefest moment her eyes closing.

"Even? No. Never equal, even, or anything of the sort but suitable trophies? Yes. I am the Grim Hunter son of Kraven and you have been marked as my prey. Both of you and the rest of the vermin in this city will come to know my name." With a rather dramatic turn and leap the man races off along the walls of the zoo. His pace something Nightwing knows he couldn't match. Something even a fully coherent and non-inebriated White TIger would have trouble keeping up with.

"Great. Exactly what Gotham needs. We have to get out of here and let the police know there are missing security. Also I have a lot of questions for you." Nightwing says while his back is still to White Tiger. "I gathered you were being chased and what that lunatic said before those lions attack only confirmed it. Who you are is another question all together." Now he is actually turning around to look at her as the lions have backed away, spooked by the sirens outside. Perhaps now actually seeking freedom. Also not a good thing.

White Tigers gloves had resealed over her torn hands, but the blood still stained the fabric while it flowed, some crusted the corners of lips from her fall. but she was regenerating the longer she is conscious and bearing that amulet. Though she had pushed herself way too far with the aid of those drugs, the ones that made the world seem like it was closing off her breathing, or perhaps it is the broken and con-caved ribs she is ignoring. Thank you drugs.

But once the man left, her glare shifted from where he had stood to the lions that turned, glancing back in debate and then loped off in their wise decision of freedom and life without electrocution in it.

Anything Nightwing is saying to White Tiger is coming off as a humming, a low bass that only accents the beating of her pulse, and those closing in lights. Her eyes widen and that subtle glowing green seemed to spark brighter, a flash before it is gone, and so is she just as that once standing form began to slump and then disappeared before it hit the ground..

It's not like she exactly vanishes but at the same time she does. Nightwing in the darkness can no longer make out her presence, where she is at or where she was. She simply ceases to be like she was never there. "Hello? Hey... I didn't even get your name..." A pause and he sighs. His head lifting up to stare at the skies where there is not a star to be seen. "I suppose I am used to this." Not even aware the woman is crumpled up on the ground camouflaged and invisible no more than a foot away unconscious. Where she will no doubt remain until shes recovered. Running he takes off in a swing. He'll alert the police of the cats, the missing security, gather up Batgirl and try to pursue this new villain.