[Thread: Open] No hard feelings

[sugarclown]

Characters: Harley Quinn, anyone else that wants to jump in. Let's try to keep it one big thread for continuity's sake.
Where: Around the re-phased area of the complex (manhattan?!)  TV station
When: One bright, June morning. TGIF
Summary:  Harley doesn't hold a grudge, the Joker is forgiven for leaving her in that crazy place and to prove it shes

Comments

Looks good to me. *thumbs up*

[gonnaloveme]

Bruce stopped in his tracks and froze. That scream had to have been one of the most horrifying things he'd ever heard in his entire life. And he had heard some horrible things in his ungodly travels. He wouldn't say this one took the cake, but it came damn close. The image that accompanied it, he saw when he looked up, was right on up there, too.

Feigning to be just like everyone else around he reacted in surprise and fright etched onto his features, outlined in a distinct amount of disgust. On the inside he felt like sighing; as Bruce Wayne he was pretty useless to this situation.

Batman didn't like the daylight. But desperate times called for desperate measures. The worst part of all was that he'd have to go all the way back "home" and back here again just to get him. The only thing that kept Wayne from cursing such luck was the fact that he'd been playing around with various...things...lately, so he knew exactly how he'd go about this. Walk? Ride? Nah, I'll just teleport today, thanks Maw. So after backing himself discreetly out of the crowds he headed for the nearest teleportation pad.

[entro_pist]

By this time back at the studio, Harley would probably notice a platoon of unexpected guests beginning to arrive. No, not the cops, though they do arrive at about the same time as the cops resulting in what sounds like a "mini war" just outside the studio. Some shouts, bursts of gunfire from a few machine guns, and finally the loud BOOM of an explosive.

They enter, some wearing cheap clown masks, some with nylons pulled over their heads, others just wearing their usual ugly mugs. The men are, of course, armed and they continue to infest the place, prowling around off screen to take captive any studio management (that are still living). None of the personnel are killed but they are held at gun point to keep the cameras rolling.

The henchmen are not accompanied by their boss, but he will be making his presence known shortly.

[sugarclown]

She must be doing something right if backup just came in along with the cops... and people were already rushing to the studio to stop her. She tried not to let the man in masks distract her from putting on one hell of a show as she moved to the man she had just been sitting on a moment ago.

The girl was still screaming though they were turning into sobs as the pain subsided. The man kept his eyes locked on Harley's. He was trying to plead with those eyes alone. She ripped off the tape on his mouth and wiped the drill bit off on his shirt.

"Please, don't do this. You must be a sensible young woman, you don't have to do this!" He said in a calm voice, though she could see the fear in his eyes. Harley shoved the drill in his right ear and faced the two other people tied to the left of him. Her smile didn't waver as she squeezed the trigger and pushed in hard. He screamed even louder than the woman as the drill entered through his ear canal, past his skull and into his brain.

It felt all squishy and nice.

"Awh, there's only two left. It's going to be over way too soon, don't you think?" She asked the man as she continued to fuck his skull with a drill.

[cranescarecrow]

At this point, Crane didn't even know why he was still here. Her voice was still annoying, still shrieky, and still blaring out of the television. But, somehow, he couldn't bring himself to just walk away.

As much as he might hate to admit it to himself (and he would never admit it to her), this was... fascinating. The blatant terror in the captives eyes, the swell of fear and panic in the crowd around him as the events on the screen unfolded- well, in a word, it was irresistable.

[brainiac5ive]

Lead the way? Oh, he led alright. Fast, but not too fast, it was several blocks, but the flying hero and the warrior prince were both very fast, especially considering how the pedestrians cleared the way. They arrived on the city block where the studio was stationed, and it took nothing more but locating the building surrounded by the local law enforcement to find where they were looking for.

Knowing full well that he could not very well go in and leave the elk in the hands of these people, he needed to make a split second choice concerning their next move. Not wanting to spook the animal, but not wanting to be too late, he transformed into his Coluan battle mode, growing easily twice the size as he had been before, with an even more robotic visage and gently picked up first the boy from the saddle in one arm, then the elk in the other. From there, he rose from the ground and headed skyward to the studio's roof.

It was only a moment later that he touched down, letting the boy down first and holding the animal to attempt to still him. "Please, calm him quickly. If you have a stay command I would use it."

[OOC: Sorry Poshy, we got alot of ground to cover. Please lead the way into the next scene.]

[uncloudedeyes]

Ashitaka was following along as fast as Yakul's hooves could carry them. The sudden transformation caught him off guard, he gasped as it happened but when he was picked up off the ground and dragged into the sky... well, he had nothing.. not even breath to release in a gasp or a refusal. In the air the screen portraying the mutilation of the next victim, a man, was very clear to the prince.

Their feet met ground and Yakul was writhing and bucking to get away form the suddenly monstrous green man. He went to the elk without the command of the other, rubbing the area of fur between Yakul's eyes. "It's alright, we're down now." the elk took some convincing but simple repetition soothed him an a few seconds. He looked to the green one at his second statement. "Yakul I need you to wait for me." he said it firmly and was already off, finding the door that led downstairs into the complex where these people were being held. Where that madwoman was.

There were a great many people around the place, masked people with the oddest of faces. Like more Kabuki faces... Ashitaka had his sword at his side but was lending himself more to brute strength and knowledge of pressure points to get him and the green one following him, to the source of the crime.

"What are they?" he asked to no one in particular as he struck an armed man in the collarbone, hearing and feeling it crack under his hand. The man cried out as he fell, his weapon clattered to the floor and slid away, out of sight or reach. There were plenty more to take his place and all the while Ashitaka could hear shouts and a feminine giggle. Growling he moved faster.

[brainiac5ive]

The robot remained where he was only for a moment before following, having watched Ashitaka care for his animal, who loyally complied. He took only a moment more before dashing forward and reverting back to his smaller, more lithe form into the stair well to catch up to Ashitaka, satisfied in what he had done.

Brainy spotted Ashitaka, and then to his right, behind him, another one of the armed henchmen. He extended his right arm and grabbed him by the scruff of the shirt, slamming him down into the ground. His body reached his arm, and he reached for both weapons, crushing them. "Criminals." he paused, considering them, and dropping the scrapped guns. "Clown themed criminals." Where had he heard of that motif before?

[gonnaloveme]

Batman, too, came in from above, crashing through one of the windows on a mid-level floor and rolling once before coming to his feet. He began fighting instantaneously, not pausing to even to regain his equilibrium, take in the environment or number of enemies or anything. Simply went straight into a high kick that slammed directly into the nearest criminals face with a resounding crunch of cartridge.

He didn't stop there. His combat was brutally efficient, and just plain brutal. It was obviously the wrong time of day to mess with the Bat. He didn't kill though, of course. He swept away weapons, dodged bullets, and generally just did as much nonlethal damage around him as humanly possible. He was doing a fairly good job when the other two arrived on his floor. Without breaking stride he simply took them for advantage.

"...The instigator of all this mess is one floor below if my calculations are correct. As you don't look like the rest of this rabble, I'm assuming you're here to help. Fine. There's plenty to go around. Now start making a path for the next floor and head for the middle broadcasting room. The main target's there and once we take her out..." He didn't sound too pleased to be working with anyone, but he wasn't without reason. And his commands were simple enough to follow, right?

((Please to just be pretending that they made their way down a couple of floors onto Bats while fighting the entire time. And now we have a little Justice League of our own. /shot))

[uncloudedeyes]

Ashitaka picked the dark man on this floor out as either another neutral fighter, or their leader. Once he started addressing them he assumed the former.

"Right." he didn't take time to get into the man's tone or motives. He was already off, taking down people as he went. Asitaka was both fast and efficient though had his curse still been with him... he may have been even better. The men were getting voracious and heavier in numbers as they approached the central floor containing their 'hostess' as she called herself outside. His eyebrows furrowed and he grit his teeth. One man down,, then another... and another. He would soon have to implement his sword... no, nevermind just get it out now.

Ashitaka was less concerned about the lives of the 'clowns' and more concerned about getting to those screaming hostages on time. He could hear more yelling and drillwork and giggling coming from outside, the speakers and large screen nearby. He made it to the next stairwell easily enough, just in time to meet the next batch of re-enforcements. About five men waiting for them to come down. They met him with masks, he met them with the sword.

[entro_pist]

On the main floor below, the broadcasting crew (still at gunpoint) continue the filming of Harley's Adventures in Wonderland. They and their armed captors are, for the moment, oblivious to the team of mismatched heroes making their way down to the first floor. However, some of the thugs are catching wind. When you have enough men littering a place, word can travel.

In the behind-the-scenes hub of the studio, the phones light up. Caller on line three! A masked minion the size of a wild rhino nudges his hostage with the end of his micro uzi and growls an order to air this call. It's done and a new voice drips from the speakers, filling the airways. The frightened staff might breathe in relieve knowing that someone from the outside world is making contact and addressing the crazed woman with the drill, until they hear what their caller has to say...

"Well, well, Harley. Don't you just look scrumptious." The voice is weird and much too calm. Much too playful. "I happened to catch your little after-school-special and thought it'd be fun if we played a little game. What do you say?"

[sugarclown]

Harley almost dropped her drill when she heard the voice over the studio speakers. "Mistah J? Is that you?!" Of course it was him, who else could it be? She bounced excitedly and pulled the goo-covered drill from the hollow head of the now-dead hostage and rushed to the camera as if she could see him if she looked close enough through the lens. The viewers at home (and outside) would get a nice view of her eyeball and then her red lips kissing the camera.

"I'm all for it, Puddin'! How do we play?" She stepped back a bit but still took up the entire frame. Her cleavage was very prominent in the shot... that's how she liked it.

"Your boys are whispering about some studio guests. Are they going to play too?" She had no idea who the guests were but she was aware of them and knew that they were coming to crash her party. If she had known how adorable they'd be and that one of them was the famous Batman, she would have made snacks!

[entro_pist]

"Oh, I hope so. Your old contestants aren't looking so good..." In other words: dead. He can tell because he's watching the live broadcast on a portable TV from a remote location. A location likely to exist somewhere within a piece of the original base not overrun with other world segments. Somewhere that offers a good view overlooking the city.

For the record, he and Harley aren't in cahoots. It just happens that his plans for the afternoon coincide so well with her shenanigans, he couldn't resist sending out his goons and calling in. When the other "contestants" arrive, he'll lay down the game rules.

[brainiac5ive]

"Your presumptions are correct. The broadcast feed is coming from directly below." Instead of running, Brainiac began walking forward, away from bats as he analyzed the floor. A few more steps until his right for arm clicked apart into sections and regrouped, reformed, and grew into a menacing looking projectile weapon which he turned onto the ground.

"Suggestion: Free the hostages while I provide a distraction."

Not giving him much of a choice, he fired upon the floor, creating a small shortcut to the studio below. He jumped through it towards the studio, aiming another blast for one of the cameras, this time a small burst, as not to harm the operating civilian. From there, his firearm transformed back into an...arm and extended to duke out one of the armed guards, then his other arm to the one on his opposite.

It was then that he started his approach to Harley. "It is highly advisable that you cease your transgression and put the drill down."

[gonnaloveme]

Batman hesitated running after the other as he watched the green one, curious at first. Interest faded into practicality soon after he figured out the boy's intent, turning away briefly as the blast created a hole in the floor large enough for a body to fit through. He eyed it warily, but that was not to say he wasn't ready to plunge straight in. He would have preferred, however, that he could gauge the amount of villains from a better angle.

He axe kicked a criminal attempting to get up as one last measure on this floor, and then leapt into the rabbit hole after the green guy. He quickly took in his new surroundings with a devious swirl that made his cape fly out menacingly; a tactic based sheerly on deception as the fluttering movement caught the eye and either distracted aim or actually frightened with the black, dark appearance of a demon. Either way it kept others at bay while he preformed the "useless" act.

The dark figure was instantly running towards what few hostages left alive were remaining to free them, downing criminals as he went. It wasn't so much as he was following the suggestion, as the suggestion coincided perfectly with his own preferred tactic. Free the innocents, then go after the bad guy. It worked for him.

[uncloudedeyes]

Ashitaka was fighting off offenders and making his way down to the room where the victims were being held when he heard the very floor crack and fracture some ways away from him. Whether it was from 'his side' or the others was unknown but he started moving with even more verocity and speed.

His arms went through many bones and sets of tissue. Screams and words of disgust and defeat were heard all around. Some were quicker than he was and he spent some time facing off with three or so in the hallway past the stairs, not far from the hole Brainiac 'built' in the ceiling. There was nothing to reason against them with so he simply took them out, peacefully as he could, no unnecessary death if he could spare it.

He was romping along, making way to the commotion of the screaming and the mechanical noise. The the booming voice of... what was that?

"It is highly advisable that you cease your transgression and put the drill down."

He ran in the room. The black man and the green man were there already. Ashitaka was huffing, catching his breath. The small woman with the...'drill', was it? was standing away from her victims, all of which looked horribly spliced and mutilated. He shuddered and his eyes glinted in anger and slight fear. What kind of person could... He looked to the others and waited for their confirmation with him for them all to move in.

[sugarclown]

"Party crashers." She said with a pout. The two remaining hostages seemed grateful for the intrusion but Harley was a little bit miffed. Oh well, at least her plan had worked. The Joker had noticed her and even Batman was here! When Batman considered you a bad guy, you know you've made it. Harley was totally in the villain club. Score and a half.

"What do we have here? A kid made of snot, a confused asian, and a rodent of unusual size. I'm completely outnumbered, if I put the drill down, how am I supposed to defend myself?" she asked as she threw the drill to the ground and picked up the croquet mallet that had been resting against the back of the first hostage's chair.

"There, drill is down." She smiled as she swung the mallet in a circle beside her and did a back flip away from the hostages, but still in the camera's view, "Mistah j has a proposition for you party crashers anyway. We're going to play a little game. Hear that, Batsy? You love the Joker's games, don't you?"

And so the spotlight was taken off of Harley, thank goodness, and placed on the disembody voice of the Joker booming throughout the studio.