2015.01.12 - Joker Aloose

A quiet day on campus. Just like any other day really. Students going to and fro to their classes, or going to the library. Or...whatever it is people do at college, waste of money that it is. For now, things are calm. People are at ease. The Joker -- the madman you're all here to see -- is nowhere to be seen. Just go about your lives will ya?

Blur is... spying on college students! No, really, she's people watching. And if her uncle asks where she was today, she can tell him the university, and hopefully he won't be mad. The superhero-in-training, who's not always very hero-like, is wearing a big trench coat over her costume. Just in case. Her domino mask is in her pocket for now. Still, she sticks out. Because she's a 15 year old who looks like she's 13, at a college.

Huh. That's weird. Loud sirens and smoke coming from a building that might be the library. Yup. Black billowing smoke, books on fire. Upper floors it looks like. A couple of windows seem to have been busted out and the noxious fumes pour up and out of them. The normal day on campus seems to have turned into something much less normal and somewhat more terrifying. If you're into books and stuff.

Not standing out quite so much, one Steve Rogers. Why is he here? Auditing an art class. Thankfully, his gear is on site, if not on the man himself right now. He comes out of the building, wrapped against Gotham's cold, blue eyes glancing around as...oh...not good. Not good at all. Turning, he runs...away from the fire for now, but only for long enough to change into something (some might argue someone) more suitable.

Blur spots the black smoke, and frowns. Was a fire really a hero-worthy matter? 'Of course it is. Besides, I wanna get my name out there, right? Bats'll understand. I hope!' With that mental debate over, she ditches the trench coat, slips on her mask, and dashes towards the burning building, a blurry streak of black against snow. "Stay calm everyone, hero on scene!" she calls heading to the fire. "Hopefully this is just a simple accident..."

These sirens and smoke attract more than just superheroes. Regular folk, firemen and police officers show up as well and start to cordon off the scene. Though, as Blur rushes past, some seem a bit taken aback. Of course, while all of this is going on some all white trucks pull up to the next building over, the chemistry and physics building and some white lab-coated men run inside. BUT NEVER MIND THE MEN IN THE LAB COATS. Rather, the burning building is the main attraction. And, just for added fun, there's a loud explosion from the upper floors. Flaming debris rains down on those standing around outside.

Some of which is abruptly blocked by an arrive Captain America, shield lifted to catch as much of the debris as he can. Gotham, not the man's usual haunt, but he's definitely there and definitely the real thing. He turns towards the firefighters. "How bad does it look to you?" They're the experts. He's...well...here to help, as ever.

And many other bystanders find themselves displaced a foot or two away from falling debris, as Blur pushes them all away. Once the explosion settles, the young hero sighs. "Books don't explode! Somethin's up there!" She's a native Gothamite from her accent alone. "Lemme check!" Before anyone can yell at her, she sprints into the building; looking around through the smoke. 'Okay, bad idea...'

And then she spots it. A little bundle of circuits and wires, attacked to a bundle of sticks. She's seen enough TV to recognize a bomb. Taking a breath, she lets her speed sense extend, and crouches down. "How do I... Uh oh." She blitzes back out of the building, stopping in front of Captain America, looking winded. "Bombs, at least one more up there! With a Joker face on it!"

"Get bomb disposal here." It's not one of Cap's specialties, but... He turns back to the speedster girl. As if he does this every day. "At least one? You're fast - see if you can find others, but be careful." Whoever she is, she has something he doesn't for this. Speed.

"It looked like a fire until things started blowin up!" A man who might be a sergeant or ladder captain or some important person replies to Cap. Inside the library it is somewhat warm, being on fire and all. The sprinkler system is working on the lower levels, so everything and everyone trying to escape (or, run deeper into the catastrophe) is getting soaked. Even Ms. Video Game Speedrun gets a LITTLE wet. The bombs...yeah, they are there. And yeah they do have some sort of marking that would suggest they are the Joker's, but..well...the last of them go off in a rumbling series of booms. The upper floors look like they might not be entirely stable. The firefighters seem to be setting up ladders and trying to contain the blaze at the top, but really, there's not a whole lot they can do right now.

Running out of the building -- one of the last people to do so actually -- and looking over his shoulder constantly is a man in a purple suit, with running makeup. The Joker himself. He is laughing quite happily at the destruction he has caused. When he spots Blur and Captain America conversing with one another he throws his arms up and starts jerkily running in the opposite direction. It just wouldn't /do/ to get captured right away, after all.

"Yes sir!" Blur knew who the Captain was (who didn't) and knew enough about him to know that he should be called 'sir'. But before she gets nto the building, the last of the bombs go off. And then she sees a very recognizable person laughing like a madman and fleeing. "Joker..." She narrows her eyes, and sprints after the Clown Prince. Is she going to trip him? Restrain him? Nope, she;s just going to body check the psycho. She's not gentle about it either.

He'll forgive her for that reaction later. For right now, he nods to the cops with him, to the quiet "On their way," response he got to his request. Then he's moving towards the Joker himself...because he doesn't trust Blur to be able to hold a man that dangerous for more than a second.

The Joker is really not known for his physical prowess, so it may or may not be a surprise when Blur's tackle is SUPER EFFECTIVE on him. He goes down like a sack of potatoes. Blur may notice that as soon as she touches him, he goes limp and collapses to the ground, letting their momentum carry them forward. This seems to have been planned by him as the tumbling ends with him having a grip on Blur's hair, and he has somehow produced a pistol that he puts to the girl's temple when he comes up from the ground. "Tsk-tsk girlie. You should know better than to rush into things." The irony is thick with this one. He grins a little bit as Cap comes running forward, "Another step, or I see you flinch with that shield star man and the tot her gets it." He continues to back away from Captain and the library fire, but much more slowly now.

The firefighters continue to battle the blaze, most not paying much attention to where the superfolk have gone. No more explosions means more time to concentrate on fighting the fire and policing the interested and frightened civilians.

Blur is given a fleeting moment of satisfaction when she tackles Joker. She didn't get to smash into bad guys nearly enough anymore, what with her mentor disapproving of her usual tactics. She she smiles as they roll - which becomes a panicked grimace as freakishly strong fingers pull her hair, and the cold barrel of a gun presses against her head. She doesn't scream, but she does struggle, trying to get some room away from the madman. That's not happening. "Help..." She looks at the Captain, gulping.

Or maybe he won't. The firemen are dealing with the fire. Captain America lifts a hand. "Or you could just let her go. I don't think you're going to have too much fun with her." He's aware of the Joker's history, perhaps even something of his pathology. The guy is very, very insane indeed.

"I let her go, you let me go. It is that simple Starman." Joker replies, keeping a beady eye on the Cap, while his gun continues to dig into Blur's temple. He takes a few steps back, and then flicks something on the side of his pistol. Did he turn the safety on, or off? Or was it even a safety? The world may never know. His hand on Blur slips down to now wrap around her throat. He is also much faster than you'd think, at least when it comes to the manual dexterity stuff.

Blur takes a deep breath, shuddering as the clown's hand wraps itself around her neck. That set off all sorts of 'do not want' instincts in the young speedster. Without really thinking, she punches straight up, knocking the gun away from her head, and maybe out of the lunatics grasp. The other hand claws at the one around her neck, pulling it aside. She dashes towards the Captain, stumbling a little bit as she does so. She wasn't as fast as the Flash, but she was faster than a normal human. Not that the Joker is normal...

Up to the edge of the fire fighter line pulls a purple 1947 Cadillac Series 62 Convertible, ( [] ) with a squeal stop. Out jumps a blonde in a lab coat, the hair bound in a pair of pigtails. Lips painted red, and she wears a pair of glasses. She carries an old style leather doctor's bag. "One side, one side, I'm a Doc'ter." She barks as somebody tries to stop her. In the other hand she carries a keyring with a ZZ Top shiny emblem on it. "'Cuse me, 'cuse me.." And with the final one she doubles over a guy with an elbow. "Sorry." She tells him as she gets way too close to the conflict for civilian safety.

And the second Blur is free, the shield is in motion, attempting to knock the Joker out in one shot. It spins through the air with surprising speed, Cap's hand already extending to catch it on the rebound. He's not too worried about the Joker trying to grab it. He can already see he can take him...

The Joker does not appear at all surprised that Blur makes a break for it. He holds onto his gun, and has his hand pried away from the girl's throat almost too easily again. The instant the Blur gets free, the Joker seems -- relieved? -- at this. WHY he is relieved his bargaining chip has run away becomes apparent a moment or two after Blur starts to pull away. Joker does three things almost simultaneously. First, he seems to rise up onto the ball of one of his feet. Secondly, he kicks out with a leg, connecting with the Blur's retreating derriere. This, starts the Joker rolling backwards.

Turns out, the Joker has some sort of wheel at the bottom of his shoe, like what the kids wear these days. But, a kick to one's rear is usually not enough to generate much momentum. The Joker's third action will generate plenty. He fires a shot from his pistol. The bullet he fires is aimed square at the back of the Blur, but it seems this is no ordinary bullet. Rather, it's some sort of sticky, glue-like substance that ought to cover Blur and Cap.

There are a couple of problems with his getaway plan though. First, his glue might also cover Harleen Quinzel. Apparently he was not expecting her to arrive at right this moment. And, secondly: the glue coats Cap's shield. So when it strikes him -- and strike him it does, quite well -- the shield sticks to the Joker. This is too much momentum though, and the Joker goes rolling backwards, before he tumbles off balance and thud-clangs a few feet further.

"What th...what?! Get it off get it off!" Joker declares as he tries to climb to his feet, tugging at the shield that is pretty well glued to his purple coat right now.

Blur makes a face at the kick to the rear - that was just insulting! But she hears the gun go off, her eyes go wide - and she's covered in some horrible sticky goo. "Oh eew!!" The goo goes everywhere, and she falls down, stuck like a bug. "Get it off, get it off!" Being entrapped was not a good feeling for the speedster.

Captain America manages, barely, to dodge the goo...but his shield's not so lucky. The best thing he can hope for is that it will slow the Joker down. And that the stuff will be easy enough to get off the speedster. Well, there's some goo on him, but he's not all stuck together like Blur is...as long as he's careful. He takes off after the Joker, but he's having to stay slow...

Harley has quick reflexes and raises the hand carrying the bag up to block the gooey stuff, her body presenting only one side the get goop on. Of course this is not a total defense against the Joker's weapon by any measure. The gunk sticks her raised arm to a one of the pigtails, and when she starts to lower it her head is pulled in that direction. "HEY! How many time I gotta tell ya, not in the HAIR!" One side though remains clear and she hops a little on that one leg. She laughs at the shield though, "Serves ya right." She says, the mixture of half stuck and hopping on one foot starting to make her spin in place.

The Joker is able to run a bit faster than the Captain, and thus when he gets an angle that will get him past Cap and going in the direction of Harley, he takes it. The Joker digs into one of his pockets that is unshielded, and then tosses some sort of glass capsule at Harley's feet. It appears that the capsule contains a liquid that will dissolve the glue...and probably Harley's boot if she's not quick about it. He yells, "Cheeze it, it's the fuzz!" and starts tugging of his coat as best he can as he hightails it for Harley's car.

Blur is still struggling with the damn glue. She tries pulling it off of her, only to get even more stuck! "Oh man, this sucks!" She struggles with the compound, but all is for naught; she can't break free. "Man, I screwed up!" She's helplessly stuck now.

Normally, the Captain could catch him, but he's trying not to end up with his boots stuck together! He's totally going to ask Batman how he deals with this guy next time he sees him! Because, there has to be a system for this. Poor Blur is, of course, even worse off.

The late arriving chick fast balls something (A keychain, but who would have noticed that?) with her free hand into the Joker's gut. "Puddin Head!" She screams at him. Then epoxy bullet gets a second solevant added to it, and Harleen beads her body towards the new chemical to free her hand from the case in agile fashion. "Help, he is stealin my wheels." She says hopping still and oh so unfortunately tripping and landing with an "Ooff."

The Joker seems to buckle a bit at the item thrown at him, and he fumbles it a little before clenching it in a fist. He jumps into the waiting car, and an instant later the engine roars to life. He cackles loudly, and floors it. The car jerks forward, the gears grind, and after a half second he seems to get it figured out. At least he didn't stall it. He zooms out down the street, laughing all the way. About a hundred yards after he's peeled out of the area those watching him go will see his coat fly out of the window of the car -- breaking it -- and land with a loud vibranium-tinged *CLANG* on the street.

Captain America retrieves the coat. Which is still glued to his shield. He starts to go through the pockets. Being who he is, he doesn't swear. Out loud, anyway.

Blur is still stuck on herself, and is now using very age-inappropriate language. Loudly. Seriously, her mouth is filthy for a kid!

Kid's got a mouth on her. Failing to find anything useful...although he's picked up some toys for analysis by SHIELD later, the Captain picks up shield and coat and heads towards a couple of unoccupied firefighters. Maybe they have some glue remover handy?

Luckily for Blur, the firefighters on scene have quelled the fire, and can assist the hero with getting free. It takes lots of water and some other substances, but finally she's mostly free of the goo. Whatever they used on Blur the firefighters use to free Captain's shield as well. "Thanks for your help sir, I'm sorry he got away." a police officer says. He glances at Blur, who's now wrapped in a thermal blanket. "She with you Captain?"

Having enough mobility to get the case open, Quinzel reaches in and pulls out an aerosol solvent and sprays it at the glue till it starts to drip off of her the rest of the way. The bottle is slipped away for the moment. She starts over to the Blur, "Hey, Kid, you okay?" she asks as she starts to look her over.

Screeeeeech...CRASH! Yup, that car is toast. More distant laughter over sirens and then the Joker is gone. But likely not forgotten.

"Stop swearing. And Batman needs to come take his villains back." Once the shield is clean, he flips it back onto his back. Bomb disposal are now checking the library. Thoroughly.

Blur glares at Cap, slightly. She would swear if she wanted to! "Ugh, Uncle Batman's gonna be so mad..." she grumbles, shivering. She looks over at Harleen. "Hiya miss, s'rry bout your car. I'll smash that jerks face next time."

Harleen grins so brightly, it looks as if her ears are in danger of bi-secting. "Uncle Batman? Wowzers, that is so cool." She states in a pleaant tone and reaches in the bag to pull out a ... flash light, a mini-mag, which she starts flashing in poor Blur'ds eyes, "I think yas might have gotta a concusion, Kiddo. Follow the light." She glances off, "It's okay, it was insured."

Blur follows Harleen's instructions. Her eyes seem find, so she didn't bump her head. "Ah, my name's Blur. I live in Gotham. Happened to be nearby when I saw fire..." The young hero sighs, looking dejected. "Dunno if I did any good though."

"Uncle Batman? Tell him he needs to put the clown back in Gotham." Because, apparently, Steve doesn't know the guy well enough to do it himself. Not phased by the fact that the girl's connected to him - it's not like Batman isn't rather known for having kids hang out with him.

Harley was just checking, reporting in the girl was Batzie's niece, she would not want it to be a case of the girl just falling on her head or something. "I see, yea, you look fine, I guess.. Nice outfit, premium choice on the outfit." Her shoulders shift and she puts the light away after turning it off. "How come you aren't in the yellow-green-red thingie? Don't Robins typically wear that?"

Blur can't help but glower a bit at Cap's back; he was rather ude! Actually, Captain America's being curt, but Blur's misreading him. She turns her attention back to9 Harleen, biting her lip. "Oh no, I'm not his Robin; he's just looking after me, ya know? Teachin' me to be a good fighter ;n stuff." Harley would definitely notice the girl's accent pegs her as a resident of the bad part of Gotham. She shrugs. "I do need a better costume though, huh? I look... plain."

Captain America finally takes a deep breath, turning back towards the two. "He has a history of helping kids learn to do things right," he says in a rather more pleasant tone. Batman would never admit to being a good teacher; but he is. A very good one.

Harleen Quinzel nods thoughtfully, "No, it is a good look. Red would look better than black, more style." she comments as she collects her self and checks her bag. Then she turns about, "Hey, you are that guy.. Captain America." she pulls a pad out, "Can I get an autograph?" She pauses and pushes it at him, "Could you make it out to The Doc?"

Blur blushes a bit at the compliment. "Thanks Doc." She then remembers her manners, and turns to Captain America. "Captain, sir? Thanks for helping me out. I got in over my head." She's mostly warmed up npow, she she gives the thermal blanket back. "If you don;t need me sir, I need to get back home. My Uncle's gonna be upset with me as it is."

"He is not an easy one to deal with. I know Batman has caught him more than once; but I presume he's more familiar with him." Is Steve...embarrassed? Yup. He's trying not to show it but, really, that glue trick...shouldn't have got him.

Captain America does, however, sign Harley's autograph. If he knew who she was...he'd probably still give her the autograph. THEN beat her up.

Harley looks over the signature. Back in the olden days, people had such good penmanship. Who knows when she will need to forge it? "Thank you so much! Take care." she offers and then she is off, about two streets over she will jack a car, and drive close to home.

Blur watches the bubbly doctor head off, probably to find a cab. She turns to the Captain. "Uh, thanks! I have to go now. I, uh... Take care?" She streaks off, a trail of 'Oh no I;m in trouble' in her wake.