*they make no move, smiling, Cass is baking you up, you reach for Joker's arm and hit it and ZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPP, joybuzzer, and you get thrown 25 feet back, as he flipped his hand over to hit your arm, Cass runs forward to clock Harley, and she steps down, and hits the trap door, and Cass falls, and you here a sploosh, you shake the cobwebs out and aren't stunned, but it did hurt.*
*Joker smiles*
"Did the bats forget to mention that trick? Your not the boy blunder, let's see what you got."
*Harley smiles and pulls out a bazooka from the sand*
"Just let me know when to blast em Mr. J."
*Joker shakes his head*
"I want to see how the young punk does against an old man first."
*he gets into style*
((26 for the buzzer, 5 intensities of electrical, thrown 25 feet back, Harley, 46 for trap door operation, Cass diff Init check 38, failure))
First of all, when I see him try to attack me I'll try to do an Attack Catch. Into Ku Fung, Panoramic Awareness, Muscle Blocking, Following Finger, Solid Punch. That about rounds it out I think.
((To be fair, you acted first and grabbed his arm, neither of you were in style and that's your action, his was to do what he did, made his roll, now I will for the rest now, to see if your in style to come back at em))
*You get into style, Panaormic Awareness is on, Muscle Blocking did not work, Following Finger did not work, Solid Punch will work*
*You launch yourself at him and give him a mighty punch, you feel he absorbed part of it and follows up with one of his own to you hitting you but not doing much*
*Oh rolls 17,34,91,91,54-10=44 You, Him 34-10 Power Punch, Muscle Blocking 61, He does 4 Intensities to you, you do 8 to him, he absorbs six, leaving him with 2, he seems to be using a Drunken Variant of Ku Fung*
"Good one kid, but your no bats."
((Would you like to turn on the ones you missed this round?))
Yes, please.
((Your luck streak continues))
*While your fighting Joker, a line comes up from the trap door and latched onto a beam up top, and Cass comes up on the line right next to Harley, who is not paying attention to the trap door, unfortunately for Harley, Cass was in style and cold clocks her with a power punch, the sound of a jaw breaking cracks through the factory, Harley is on the floor, unconscious*
*Cass releases the line and comes to a stop*
"You messed with the wrong woman grandma."
*Joker and you pause, and he winces*
"That had to hurt*
*You take the opportunity to punch him again*
*Your hand hits his Jaw, it cracks just as loud, and he goes down like a sack of potatoes*
*Cass looks at both of them*
"I think we broke them."
((Cass 24 for Line operation 1@1 Skill, 64 for Power Punch, 12 intensities, broken jaw, unconscious, Kyler, 81-10=71, Muscle Blocking for Joker 98, fail, 14 intensities, 18 total out of 19, he is unconscious, broken jaw))
Tie them up, quickly, before they wake up, then take them and dump them on the doorstep of the police station
*Oh they wake up after you tie them up and have them in the car, have them tied up, and they are not happy*
*Joker says*
"Youth boke mah jay, tooth bad foth u ah pasd on tha mantke."
*Harley retorts*
"Bigtch"
*Cass smiles and says nothing until they are dropped off hanging by wire in front of the police station*
"I took the liberty of reading his mind, he did pass off the mantle of Joker and was planning on retirement. He wasn't thinking of who he did it to though, but he was thinking that Batman would crap himself."
*thinking*
"I think Bruce is going to be pissed."
((Mind reading 61, Success))
"Yeah, but I wasn't about to bring Joker back to the Batcave to ask him who he passed on the mantle to. Let's go tell Bruce first; we might head back out tonight to see if we can find out who he passed the mantle on to, or at least break up a few muggings, if Bruce doesn't have any ideas.." Assuming we don't have some kind of commlink. I forget... anyway, I'm not worried about the Joker telling everyone that Batman isn't Bruce Wayne anymore. The ramblings of that madman will never be believed, just as they weren't then.
*Cass points at your helm and her helm*
"We do have comlinks, we just have to turn them on."
*she giggles*
"I was more concerned about us almost killing them."
"Yeah... that's true." I'll try to turn on my commlink and say, "Are you there, Bruce?"
*Bruce responds a little anger in his voice*
"I'm here, why have you been out of contact for so long?"
"Sorry. We picked up Joker and Harley. We were a little rough with them.. we need to get used to our abilities. Joker said that he's retired and he's passed the mantle on. We're coming back there; I'm sure Joker knew your identity after all these years, so his protege may be coming for you already. We weren't able to find out who it was, but he seemed to think you would be afraid of whoever it is; I could probably count on one hand the people you would be afraid of as the Joker. Maybe it's Clark Kent."
*Cass interjects*
"I meant I was afraid Bruce would be mad for us breaking their jaws, I have no idea who he chose. In our defense, Harley did have a bazooka."
*Bruce responds*
"We will have a conversation on when to use that punch, and when not to use it, but now is not the time. Come back to the batcave and we will discuss that and other things."
We're going back to the batcave. (The statement was regarding that the Joker was thinking "bruce would crap his pants")
((True, but Cass didn't take it as that, and she is the one who explained it. She doesn't get the in jokes Joker has with Batman))
*Bruce is waiting at the batcave*
"So tell me how you two almost killed those two?"
*he taps his foot waiting*
I say to him, "In through the a window, they saw us when we landed, Joker sends his regards to you, I told him it was time to get back to Arkham, he accused me of not being you, like an idiot I went and put my hand on him to tie him up, he got me with the joybuzzer, Harley pulled out a bazooka, Joker and I fought for a minute or so, Cass managed to sneak Harley, Joker looked over to see what happened and the punch I was going for landed a little more squarely than intended. We'll have to learn to rely on some other moves in our repertoire; Joker seemed like he was about to bite the dust tonight, if he could have used his jaw."
*Bruce sighs*
"You thought it was a good idea to hit a 60 year old man with a Solid Punch? You use Solid Punch when your facing Bane, or Croc, not Joker. Even if they use lethal means on you, you cannot sink to their level."
*Cass interjects*
"How were we suppose to know who is who in your gallery of rogues, you never talk about them?"
*Bruce thinks and lightens up a little*
"Your right, I have some bad memories about them, so I don't bring them up much, tomorrow we will go over them, so you know what to expect."
I nod in agreement, thinking of Bane and shuddering inwardly. "He may have been a sixty year old man, Bruce, but before he is a sixty year old man he is still the Joker. We were right in his trap, staring death in the face, and if it weren't for skill tempered with a lot of luck we probably wouldn't be here telling you about it now."
*Bruce nods*
"He was needling you, as soon as he knew you weren't me he was trying to figure out who you were, it's just his way. He is sick in the head, and that's why he stays at Arkham."
*he sighs*
"Sleep and then tomorrow we start working on what Joker was talking about."
"Right." Alert Rest, if not, then sleep. and tell Cass how grateful I am to have her by my side all the time.
*Cass smiles*
"I'm just happy to know what it feels like to be a good person, and your helping me down that path. Although I should have told Harley she was too old and too out of shape to be wearing that, but that would have been mean."
*she tries alert rest as well*
*You keep up all night, Cass tips over and is drooling on your lap sleeping*
((Alert Rest Kyler: 69, Success, Cass, 81 Failure))
When I'm done resting, I will stay with Cass, watching her sleep and stroking her hair, thinking about how lucky I am to have her until she wakes up or Bruce comes to get us. If she wakes first, we will go and find Bruce.
*she sleeps till Bruce wakes you two up and takes you on the tour of rogues*
*You know them so not going over them*
*then he sits both you in front of UNIVAC and has you putting in variables from your encounter to see what if anything the computer spits out, it's a very unfun and boring job*
Not to say that I love unfun and boring jobs, but sitting in front of the UNIVAC for the first time is exhilirating; if I get a bit too bored, I can always remind myself in my head: "I AM BATMAN" and supress my crazed giggling so that Bruce and Cass don't think I'm completely insane.
*Cass pats your head, she already knows your insane and loves you anyway, Bruce, is reading reports generating from UNIVAC, and you don't think he is paying attention.*
*Bruce comes up*
"The Batcomputer says there is a 99% probability that it's someone I either fought or dealt with that has taken the new identity. It further goes on, to say that it would also would have to be someone who has extensive dealings with The Joker. This person also likely sprung The Joker for something."
"... are any of the old Robins you worked with still alive, Bruce? Did you ever have any problems with any of them?"
*Bruce considers*
"Tim Drake, the other ones are dead, most of them by Joker."
"Would it be possible that Tim is the new Joker? Maybe we should look into him and find out what he's doing, if you consider it a possibility. It's a starting point, at least; who would the Joker love to have carry on his work more than someone who once worked with you to put him away?"
*Bruce considers*
"It's possible, anything is at this point, he is living on the other side of town in a farm with his wife and family."
*hands you the address*
"I would go incognito, no reason to have anyone see Batman or the Batmobile there."
"I agree completely." I will go during the day with Cass, driving most of the way but parking several blocks away and continuing on foot in case the car is recognized as being Wayne's. I'll approach the house and ring the bell, or knock if there is one or if the bell doesn't work.
*an woman in her 30's answers the door, dresses in a dress and button down blouse, the smell of apple pie wafting to your nostrils*
"Yes, how may I help you?"
Darn, I was hoping for Drake to come to the door. I'm not at a loss, though; I know what Jehovah's Witnesses say: "Hello, is my friend Tim here?"
*She eyes you two up and down to get a feel for who you are*
"Tim doesn't have too many friends, I don't know about, he's in the fields working."
((GE roll 23))
"OK... have you heard the Good News? Jesus loves you." I am really expecting to get the door slammed in my face.
*The door does get slammed in your face*
*Cass says*
"Boring conversation anyway?"
*Assuming you are walking to the fields, looking for Tim*
Yes... that seems the best thing we could do.
*You find him after a good 20 minutes of walking and searching, he's on a horse and buggy pull tractor, and he slows down to a stop and studies you both like a hawk would study prey*
"So what does Bruce want?"
I smile, and respond, "It seems you haven't lost your touch, Drake. He wanted to know how you've been doing."
*he steps down off the tractor and it's hard to tell in his overalls, he is about 6 foot, 200lbs, looks to be in his late 30's and still in pretty good shape."
"He should have come himself, but he hates confrontation with us. I've been eeking out a living, with my wife and family. So what is it you really want?"
"His wheelchair doesn't maneuver very well in a field, or else I'm sure he would have come. While I've got you here, I should pick your brain for a minute.. who do you think might have helped the Joker escape from Arkham?"