Gotham: Year One

[Eurus]

Selina Kyle

Selina gracefully takes a seat, hands folded neatly in front of her as she watches Ra's. "Mr. Al-Ghul, I thought you were smarter than that. Imagine the roles reversed. You are an unknown factor, attempting to find information to implicate a very powerful man. Do you not do everything in your power to avoid having your search connected back to you? To be perfectly honest, I haven't a clue where the money comes from."

[Terron]

Luigi steps out of the shadows. "Alright, you got me there amici." he says.

[industrious]

Luigi

"Good."

The gun hasn't moved an inch, still resting on Montoya's temple.

"Get the officer's cuffs, and cuff yourself. Face the wall."

Bolton

The issue isn't one of guards; rather, it is one of people. Hotel security, even for a five star hotel, wasn't anything approaching professional. A stray passerby, a half-sober patron, and the game was over. At the moment, though, Bolton is, for all intents and purposes, invisible.

While there is the obvious solution of the rooftop entrance, Bolton observes a more subtle and discrete way of entering. The air ventilation system was built to enormous proportions; having each room individually adjustable required a greater input. Bolton could easily manage to enter, despite his enormous size.

Selina Kyle

"And if I was in the position of the private investigator hired to accomplish that deed, I'd try to find out who my unknown benefactor might be. It is patently obvious who hired you, though. I was hoping that you would have deduced it by now."

The fish is exquisitely prepared-perfectly seasoned, and still moist. Ra's leans slightly forward.

"You truly do not know?"

Spoiler

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Make a Sense Motive check. If Selina is lying, a Bluff check. You know the drill, I expect.

[Terron]

OOC: Where are the cuffs?

[industrious]

Luigi

He sees Montoya's cuffs by the breakfast table.

Walker(s)

They struggle for a time, and the crazy hobo is far stronger than his thin frame would think. But eventually, Katherine's training wins out, and Walker is led back into the cells, with a very large Book entitled The Law about to be hurled with extreme force at him.

Katherine trudges back to her office, only just collapsing onto the chair(pillow, she thought. I need to put a pillow on the seat). And just in time, the door to her office opens, and her new taskforce walks in.

"Ma'am?" one of them says. "We've been assigned to your unit...?"

[Terron]

OOC: Is there anything else on the table Luigi could see a use? I don't expect a laser gun, but you know what I mean.

[DeafnotDumb]

"Joy." Mutters Katherine, half to herself. Then she looks up and partway apologizes. "Been a goddamn long day. But in Gotham, when is it not?" She laughs a little to herself, and stands up. She's glad she managed to sit down, because this way she can make her rise look a little impressive - not too much, not too showy, but there's the small click as her stick arrives by her side with a minor flourish, a touch of showmanship Katherine didn't know she had.

Hey there. I'm Dec-Lieutenant Walker, somehow. She shrugs and smiles. "No big speechs. Just tell me your names and what you're good at and I'll tell you what we'll do." Katherine - Lieutenant Katherine Walker, she's gonna have to get used to thinking of herself like that - sits down steadily and then scrambles on her desk for her notes and brings them up, ready at hand should she need to look at them. "Basically, we're going after big, bad mister Carmine Falcone, criminal extroadinaire. The fact that nobody knows about us and cares about us is right now a big bonus."

Katherine opens her mouth to give the group her permission to commence, and then changes her mind quickly. "Just one more thing. You want protecting from the mob, I'll provide it. Somehow. Okay, you go." She motions to the nearest recruit standing to her, keeping her eye on everyone and trying to form some first impression of them.

Spoiler

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Don't know if this is needed, but a Sense Motive roll to gain a good first impression:
[roll0]

[Sophistemon]

Lyle Bolton

Spotting the opening to the ventilation system, a wide smile quirks into existence under his mask. Is is childish to want to relive a lifetime of action hero fantasies? He inspects it closely and determines that the main passages will be large enough to accommodate even his considerable bulk. Ah, the excesses of modern living. Where would we be without our creature comforts? He carefully removes the ventilated cover and crawls inside. Now, how does a person in a vent locate someone outside of it? Ah, yes. He'd need to find the security office. Once there, he could scan the video feeds for evidence of Ra's al-Ghul before formulating a feasible rescue plan.

[industrious]

Spoiler

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No. And use the OOC thread for non-IC posts.

Crispus Allen

This was his third transfer in as many months. He was from Metropolis; had a reputation among the force for being honest. Ironic, really. He left there because he had a reputation for breaking the rules.

Walker, though...she had passion. Rumor had it she fell for one of the others on the force. One of the ones who died. And Walker got shoved into Pawn, filling out paperwork for the rest of her life. Until now, that is.

That sort of pressure, that sort of environment...it changes a person. Big time. They can only take it for so long until they snap, fade into the background, or get stronger for it.

So, he wonders as he enters the room. Which are you?

Five minutes later, he had his answer. She had been wounded. Still was. And he didn't think that would change for a while. But that wound drove her-she wasn't going to quit. Wasn't going to back down. Allen didn't know if she'd succeed; this was Gotham. But he intended to find out.

He steps forward, knowing that he speaks for all of them, and salutes.

"Crispus Allen. Investigation"

Then his partner steps forward.

"Sarah Essen. Deduction."

"Josephine MacDonald. I...um...am good at finding things? Like clues?" Greener than...well...grass. Or this one cloak his wife bought him for a costume party.

"Marcus Driver. I know some people. Nobody big. But enough minnows."


Lyle Bolton

Bolton would swear that he's making a great deal of noise. He can hear every knee and elbow descend on the metal floor; oddly enough, nobody seems to raise the alarm.

Eventually, he finds the security office. The lone guard watching the cameras has his back turned to him; the man's asleep at the monitor. Two bottles of beer and doughnuts reveal the cause.

[Sophistemon]

Lyle Bolton

As a security expert himself, the lackadaisical attitude of this guard further enforces his view of Gotham City as ripe and bloated with incompetence. Imagine, falling asleep at your post. Any two-bit vigilante could sneak right in! Thankfully, the position of the vent means that he doesn't need to actually enter the room and risk waking the man from his little cat-nap; he can see the screens from where he is. He inspects them carefully for any signs of Ra's al-Ghul - guards, perhaps, standing outside a particular door. Anything at all, really, that can clue him off as to the villain's location.

[Terron]

Luigi walks to the table, and grabs the handcuffs. He feints he's going to put them on, but instead, throws them to take off the man's gun!

Move feint: [roll]1d20+8-5[/roll]
Attempting a disarm ranged attack: (1d20+10)[24]

[DeafnotDumb]

Walker mainly kept her eyes on Crispus as he walked in. Stride confident without being too cocky, at a guess. The way his gaze flicked around the rooom, obviously observing her, was a good sign. On a hunch, she decided, this man would be a good bet. Now all was left to do was look at the other three.

Too much good news was getting to her at once, and it was making her nervous. She should've focused on one of the others first, found out something bad about them to calm her down. Crispus was just too... shiny. Didn't act like he had the proper level of grime on him that every Gotham cop should have.

That MacDonald girl - well, she'd need to partner her up with someone to prevent her getting shot. Probably disecretly rotate her around the more experienced cops here, checking out what she was really good at. She'd heared snot-nosed punks younger than eight sound more assured than her.

Sarah - quick and to the point, like every halfway competent cop ever. Not much to tell there. And at least that Marcus guy seemed modest enough - not a firebrand like some young cops were, all stupid and ready-to-please and getting themselves killed.

Katherined sighed. "It seems like by some miracle we've got a good mixture of skills here from everybody." She said. She delivered the good news with the resignation of someone who is certain that the bad karma will come and bite her in the ass later. "Ah, well. Let's get down to business, people. I'll tell you what's up."

Katherine waits for a moment and listens to make sure no one's eavsedropping in outside. It's probably the people inside she needs to worry about anyway, but she'd like to be sure. Only if she hears nothing suspicious does she continue.

"Our target is this warehouse someplace in the south of Gotham. It's currently - just about - in the hands of our city's new lord and master, Ra's-something-Ghul. Gul. You know what I'm talking about." She waves a hand. "Now, this guy is just about to sell this stunning new property to Carmine Falcone, cortesty of a new business deal. He's even had Joe Chill on his staff making things go smooth." Katherine smothers a grimace. "Now, this Ra's guy doesn't seem to really have a hang on how things are going on in Gotham yet, but I could be wrong. He is not to be trusted, all right? Not that you should get involved in that, if you're lucky."

Katherine spreads her hands down on the table and starts sketching out the imaginary lines of a plan, all business. "Now, I've had a look through the factory, and it's all chemicals, vats, processing - perfect place for a drug manufactoring plant. Carmine's not even in there yet, and he doesn't know anything about me knowing anything about it, if you follow. I went there investigating some dead-end lead, but what this really means is that we have a goddam good chance of actually doing something big here."

"I've got contacts who are going to get me survillance equipment here and around sharpish, and our first priority is to get that all set up and in place, probably without any permission at first. Won't be able to get it without tipping anyone off. We'll all do that bit together." Katherine takes a brief look to see how everybody else is responding. "Now, once we've got it in and if it somehow all works, we start getting down to the slug and tug of it. Running wiretaps, working out codes, keeping tabs on people, gathering evidence, following the money. Putting hours in, people. I'm sure I can get those overtime dockets for you, too. That'll be the biggest part of all of it, probably."

"Now, I might not be as involved at this stage, because I'll probably be trying to arrange office politics so that when we do grab all our evidence, it's not nabbed or shuffled away or anything. Making it retroactivly legal and allowed, that sort of thing." Katherine looks up, thinking. "Now, we'll have to see what we get and how it goes before we plan any further, but that's life. This is looking to be one big criminal operaton, and one big nab. Anyone of you looking for some quick promotion?"

"Crispus, you said you were good at investigation, so you'll most likely be leading the grunt work. Following up leads, looking for connections, finding where the money heads, listening to some taps, that kind of thing. Marcus, you know people on the ground what I don't. Lost my ear to the street long ago. So you'll be looking at what their reaction is to things, what rumors have been heard - shipments or new product or anything - and, once we got some faces, what they know about the people doing the work in this criminal lab. You'll both be feeding this stuff to Essen, who will be doing her thinking and connecting and calling on favours and general working things out, leading you two a little bit. I'll help you out in some areas, do some snooping on Ra's and his places, see what we can find out from him. Still got the excuse of that dead-end case of mine."

"MacDonald..." Here Katherine sighs, and taps her fingers on the desk. "You're obviously new, so frankly, I don't have much of a clue what to do with you. Starting out you'll be doing some of the grunt work for the others, finding out what you have an ability for and what you don't. I'll be talking more on that with you later, but I'll leave that aside for now. There's only four -five, with me - of us, remember, so you and me will probably be doubling up on each other's workloads on a couple of occasions, but hey - that's what overtime is for."

Anybody got a suggestion to make to the plan, or some advice, say it now. Anybody got a problem, come to me, and I'll sort it out. Protection, queries, whatever. I've got a few favours to call. And-" Katherine's hand dropped to her stick, and her eyes glinted like ice. "- all of you probably know what happend to my last crew. I will have opinions if that happens again."

"We clear?"

[Eurus]

Selina Kyle

Selina doesn't rise to the bait, making eye contact with Ra's as she calmly takes another delicate bite of the fish. Chewing thoughtfully and swallowing, she sets down her fork before replying.

"Does it really make a difference to me? I have a few theories, but frankly, I'm sure you'd know better than I."

[industrious]

Ra's Al-Ghul

"I strongly suspect."

The rest of the meal passes in relative silence. Ra's makes small talk, and Selina answers noncommitally. Eventually, the meal ends.

"Thank you for joining me, Ms. Kyle. You are, in fact, free to go. Please send my regards to your client."

As she turns to leave, he fires off a single Parthian shot.

"Oh, and Ms. Kyle? Your client is, almost certainly, Mr. Luthor. If you were to take me down, Wayne Enterprises would go down with me, and this city would be all the worse for it."

Lyle Bolton

He sees the woman who had been with him on the warehouse exit the basement stairway. That would do it, wouldn't it?

Walker

What can they say?

"Feeling pretty damn inspired, sir."

Essen nods once, then heads out the door, muttering about blackboard setup. Through the shutters of her office, Katherine can see her already moving several whiteboards into something resembling half a trapazoid.

"...Right." Crispus raises an eyebrow at his fellow Detective's zeal. "If you don't mind, I'll take McDonald with me to get that equipment you want, Lieutenant. As I'm heading out, maybe I can tell Essen that she doesn't have any facts yet."

The young officer in question nearly raises her hand before jerking it back.

"Um...ma'am? Do we have any...reports or anything we can pass around for all of us?"

Luigi

He grabs the cuffs, making as if to put them on...

The hitman nods, the barrel of his gun tilting away from Montoya's face by a fraction of a degree...

He grasps the metal rings firmly, hurling them at the man, hoping to distract him, hoping to knock the gun from his grip...

Eyes widen in surprise at the metal whirling towards him...

A sound...

The gun clatters to the floor, still smoking from the single reflexive shot he had squeezed off. Too late. Luigi had been too late.

"Well, Luigi. You've just killed this woman. How are you feeling?"

The hitman cracks his neck muscles, grinning in anticipation.

Spoiler

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Make an Intimidate Check or Will Save, DC 16
Failure means that you take a -2 morale penalty to all rolls due to fear.

Lugi gains the Complication(Accident) and a hero point.

[Terron]

The slithest's frown turns in a face twisted by pain. The only person that tried to aid him since he turned to the good side, now was dead. Dead because of him! Several images of him doing what the thug had just done showed in his mind, remembering all the persons he had killed as lead of the mob. "NOOO!" he screamed. "You! You bastard, I'll rip your eyes out of their sockets!"

Rolling before adding more text. Hope that after edditing the roll can be seen. Intimidate: (1d20+6)[26]

[Sophistemon]

Lyle Bolton
When he sees the woman make her way out of the building, he can't decide whether or not it's a good thing. For him, anyway. She's free, now, and seems unhurt, but he can certainly add this to his list of failures. Although he can count himself lucky that he didn't go bursting through doors only to find... well, something other than a hostage situation is a blessing, but now he's certain that the only thing that had gone right tonight was his accidental incarceration of Salah. And that man was dead-set (pardon the expression) on killing himself at the earliest possibility.

But he needs to talk to this woman. Salah had named al-Ghul as a major player in Gotham crime, and his recent guest might be able to tell him more. He doubts, though, that he can make it to the roof and then down to the street in time to catch her before she vanishes into the Gotham night, but it's the only option that he can think of. He retreats back up the vent, towards the roof, and once there he rappels back down to the street.

Spoiler

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I'm moving all out, as fast as Lyle possibly can, to see if I can't meet up with Selina.

[DeafnotDumb]

Paperwork. The bane of every police's life.

"Right...un. Reports." Catching the new recruit's nervousness, Katherine adds "Good question.", though she probably can't make it sound half as sincire as that idiot Gordon makes it sound.

She'd spent two years in Pawn with goddamn form B127. This couldn't be too hard. "I'll get it dealt with." She said. "Get the reports for filing evidence, overtime, everything all set up soon as I can. Just arranged a bunch of stuff today, and the survillance's the priority. Gotta do that."

"If you're talking about information and not paperwork, I'm sure I can fix something up for you too. 'Cuse me a moment." Katherine looks at the one cop under her command who hasn't spoken yet and snaps her fingers in his direction. "Marcus. Gotta know, do your ears to the street have anything on this already? Have they been talking about it - or, hell, any Falcone activity?"

[industrious]

((I'll let Eurus start the conversation with Lock-Up))

Luigi

"Tough."

The man takes out a pair of brass knuckles, and charges Luigi.

Spoiler

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Attack Roll:(1d20+5)[16]
DC 18 Toughness Save.

Katherine

"I was talking about information. So that we can get it all on the boards."

Well, at least Walker knew who'd need to be told to "speak up, dammit" at meetings. And she couldn't always have the best people.

Marcus smoothly cuts in, covering for MacDonald's nervousness. He wasn't obvious about it, either.

"As far as I know, Falcone's lying low. He's got a shipment of raw product, but little, if any of it, has hit the streets yet. Probably because he's waiting on that warehouse. He gets it, we'll probably be neck-deep in new druggies."

[DeafnotDumb]

Katherine chuckles at Marcus's calm statment. Bad news seems to be amusing her recently. "Well, no pressure. Let's see if we can get medals out of this. Good work for a starter like yourself, knowing that you keep touch in your contacts." She nods something vaugely happy in his direction and turns to MacDonald.

"Normally, I would do a report..." She considers. "But posting one up or handing them out to everybody would make it be almost certain somebody would find it and raise a flag on this investigation. I'd like to let people think we're not doing something so big for a while, at least until we've got some momentum, so I'll let them think I'm pursing some dead-end case onto Ra's and Waynecorp. That gives me another excuse to talk to him anyway."

"You're gonna have to test your memory out here, or maybe if it's that bad you should keep a notebook - keep one anyway, actually, to write down important stuff on. But don't put anything damaging on it if your the kind of person who loses these things or leaves them lying around. Paranoid, yeah, but this is Gotham. We're keeping it this way until we're not so vunerable, not so stuck in startup. If I do type up a record right now there'll have to be one only on me at all times, and I don't see much point in that. We'll keep stuff on the boards-" Katherine shrugs. "-because we have too, but I bet nobody will be coming down here that soon. I'm still in the rejects, you see."

Katherine nods out to where Essen is still doing her thing. Girl looked like she would be a great asset, if a little weird. "Crispus, can you make sure she knows that? And, MacDonald, keep asking those questions. It makes you look stupid but you're not gonna learn otherwise." She smiles at the girl. Like most of her attempted smiles, it comes out looking slightly wrong, so she sighs and shrugs it away. "We'll help you, but we don't babysit. We'll all be pulling our weight."

"A'right, any last questions? If not, I'm going to start getting this baby of mine off the ground."

[industrious]

Katherine Walker

"None that I can see, ma'am."

It's then that the phone on her desk rings. Walker feels a slight feeling of dread as she picks it up.

"Walker? It's Gordon." his voice, normally so goddamn cheerful and strong, sounds cracked. Whispy. "I just heard from the apartment next to Renee's. There have been shots fired. Can you go there, check it out? Harvey's running down a lead on the Smiler. And I can't get out of this chair. Please?"

Marcus has overheard the conversation; the man has excellent hearing, apparently.

"We can take care of the surveillance equipment, Lieutenant."

Selina and Lyle

Selina's just stepping out onto the street when Bolton finds her. The strange man in the armor and balaclava steps out by a streetlamp.

[Sophistemon]

Lock-Up

Finally, a stroke of luck, like a flash of illuminating electricity on a dark and stormy night. She was still here. Hallelujah and all that jazz. He hopes to cut, if not an imposing figure beneath the streetlamp, at least a respectable one. Second impressions were very important, almost as important as the first ones. He clears his throat to get her attention. "We need to talk," he says, using the voice, the guttural growl, that he uses whenever he wears the mask.

[Terron]

Luigi easily dodge s the charging man. He moves to retrieve his gun, and takes a shoot at him. "Surrender while you have the chance!"

Spoiler

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Move: Get to the gun
Minor: Pick it up
Standard: Shot the thug: (1d20+10)[14] not sure of this weapon's damage. Luigi is attempting non lethal force.

EDIT: Can I re roll the attack if I spend my HP?

[DeafnotDumb]

Katherine tried to reply to the phone but she finds her tounge can't move. It takes a few seconds of swallowing to get it working again. "I'll be there." She just manages to put the words out, and shuts down the phone before she can say or hear anything else.

She looks up at the three waiting faces. "Hold down the fort." She says, distantly. "Crispus and Essen are in charage for now. I've got to go and help a friend."

She's in such a hurry on her way out that she almost forgets her stick until Marcus throws it to her.

[industrious]

The Apartment

It only takes a few seconds to assess the situation. A man dressed in a sharp Italian suit. Luigi holding a gun and screaming.

And Montoya's body slumped against the wall, a bullet hole in her forehead.

Spoiler

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Walker, roll initiative.

[DeafnotDumb]

The hardened cop, verteran of a thousand crime scenes and too many dead friends, freezes at the sight of Montoya's body. When she next moves her hands are too stiff and steady and are reaching into her pocket for her gun.

Spoiler

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Init. (1d20+3)[11]. Rolling to see when I can move before taking any other action.

[DeafnotDumb]

There's two men, one gun, much too much screaming, and the situation is too confusing for Katherine to do anything but either shout or shoot everything in the room, so she takes the former option. She just about manages to control her voice and stop it from cracking. "Police! If you don't listen to me and stop now I'll shoot both of you until you're ****ing dead!"

Okay, so maybe it was a bit of a comprimise.

Spoiler

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Intimidate roll if needed: (1d20+9)[23]

[Eurus]

Selina Kyle

Selina takes a moment to mentally place the voice, but it's memorable enough that she succeeds in the recall after a moment. She becomes suddenly, acutely aware that she isn't wearing her own mask right now. She hadn't bothered to put it on after her meeting with Ra's, not yet anyway. She reflexively pulls it out now before turning around, not that she imagines Lock-Up doesn't already know her at this point. Hands in her pockets, she calmly strolls up under the streetlight herself, coming to rest a scant distance away from the man. The turmoil in her head doesn't make it to her voice, which comes out as wry and calm as usual. "You again?"

[Sophistemon]

Lock-Up

He waits for her to assume her other identity and approach him before he speaks. "Yes," he grumbles. "Me again." She's unusually calm after having a meal with a dangerous man. Although, given how she'd handled herself back on the roof, that probably shouldn't surprise him. "Let's pretend for a moment that I don't know who you are," he begins. "What should I call you when you're..." He trails off for a moment, thinking. "...when you're dressed for work?"

[Eurus]

She has to think about this one for a moment. "I've been called Catwoman. Suits me well enough. And I'm afraid I haven't had time to look much into yours, although I did pay your friend Fox a quick visit."

"So what do you know about all of this? The rabbit hole just gets deeper and deeper, lately..."

[Terron]

Luigi surprised, stops, puts the gun down and raises his hands. With trembling voice he says "He... he killed her... I couldn't do... anything..." the rest of it is lost.