Spoil the Crows (Babs)

[Stephanie Brown]

It was a dark night in Gotham. It was always a dark night in Gotham. The rooftops were slick with rain as the boots of the Spoiler thudded as she ran through the darkness, closing in on the distant gunshot, the eternal vigilante, always ready to defend her streets, to strike fear in to the hearts of criminals, to fight for the-
"Oh, come ON!" Stephanie Brown complained out loud as she skidded to a stop and saw the old car driving off, backfiring with a sound just like a gunshot. "How hard can it be to find some CRIME!?" She called out to the night in general. "I must be the only young girl out alone at night in Gotham who never meets a mugger." She complained, sitting down firmly on the edge of the building, dangling her feet down the drop below and adjusting her hood slightly. "Sure, Stephanie, go out fight crime, Stephanie, that sounds like a great idea, Stephanie..." She muttered to herself. "Why do I ever listen to me?" She asked. "Maybe I should just-"

At that moment, she froze, hearing voices below. She slowly and silently lifted herself back up on to the rooftop, and she peered down to look below at a passing trio of street thugs, all wearing leather vests and the shiny bird masks that marked them out as the Crows. The Crows had been operating all over the Narrows lately, and Steph had fought a few of them on her more successful nights out. Maybe tonight wouldn't be a total bust after all...


"Seriously man, I'm telling you, the warehouse ain't guarded tonight. I got my sources." The leader was saying, carrying what looked like a big wrench.
"What? So we just get to knock over QC's big import warehouse and nobody cares?" The second asked sceptically.
"Yeah, exactly. Ain't like nobody's gonna care. Couple o' big wigs lose some stock, got me a buyer all lined up, ain't nothin'. Not even the Bat's gonna care 'bout that." The first said.
"But I might!" Stephanie exclaimed, knowing the perfect time for an entrance, and she came swinging down from the rooftops on her grapple hook.

She didn't land entirely smoothly, it was true, tripping slightly, enough for her cape to fly up over her face and blind her, but with one confident movement she threw it back behind her, and tugged her grapple hook free, which worked on only the third try. She stood to her impressive five foot five height, which now all of sudden didn't seem impressive at all, and took up her best fighting stance.
"Who the hell are you meant to be?" The Crow leader asked with a snort.
"I'm Spoiler, and I'm here to spoil your day!" Stephanie announced, and winced a little. Yeah, okay, the catchphrase definitely needed work.
"Spoiler?" The third Crow, until then, silent, laughed. "What you gonna do? Spoil the end of to the new Star Wars movie for us?" He taunted.
"Oh my god, dude, do you think Luke Skywalker is secretly Kylo Ren? 'cause if you think about it, it'd make so much sense! That's why he's not in any of the trailers or on the poster or anything, and yeah, I know they say Adam Driver is playing him, but they changed the guy behind the mask for Darth Vader right, so why not-" She paused, catching herself. "I mean, HEY! I am a legitimate crime fighter, okay!?"
"Sure, whatever you say, little girl." The first laughed, hefting the massive wrench he was carrying. "C'mon then, let's see what you got."

Stephanie looked at the giant wrench, had a sinking feeling she'd made a mistake, and then, deciding that she'd never back down anyway, threw out her grappling hook and snatched the wrench right out of his hands. She caught it, but the weight of it pulled her right back over, and by the time she released it, she was off balance as the first hit her in the face. She stumbled back, but managed to block the second punch, and kicked her attacker firmly in the groin. She hit him in the face with what was actually not a bad punch and sent him sprawling on the ground, but as she did so, she felt a wrench on her cape, pulling her back, and two meaty arms clapped around her, pinning her arms to the side. She struggled, but was badly out-muscled, and the other remaining thug, still standing, approaching her, readying his fist.

He threw a punch at her, and she threw her head to the left as hard as she could, causing him to punch the thug holding her directly in the face. She head butted backwards, causing him to fall back and span around in a high kick, this time catching him in the face and taking him down, cracking his mask. She landed, but took a blow directly to the back of the head as the last remaining thug hit her from behind. She stumbled in to the wall and he hit her again in the face, knocking her down. She was too stunned to move as he grabbed her and lifted her up by the collar of her cape, and snarled in her face.
"I'm gonna kill you, you little bi-" That was as far as he got before Steph did the only thing left she could do. She spat blood in his face. Blinded for a moment, he released her, and she threw her own punch. Hurt as she was, it was more of a glancing blow, but she threw another one, and another one, until he went down, and then she leapt on top of him, and hit him again and again until she was determined he wasn't going to get up.

And then, confident all three were unconscious, she slumped to the alleyway floor, panting, breathless.

[Barbara Gordon]

Working at the Gotham Library was a good job. Not only was she around books all day, but Barbara had plenty of time to do research and use the archives. Not to mention the entire place was as big as a cathedral and the other people who worked there tended to be senior citizens. Barbara had become another grandchild to some of the other librarians, except for Eileen, who seemed to be the second coming of Emperor Palpatine in her dark dresses and evil glares. Eileen didn't appreciate, well, anything, and least of all flighty young librarians.

The other young librarian, Sophia, was in her mid thirties who had two kids at home, but it didn't stop Eileen from saying things like "kids these days" and the like. Sophia and Barbara helped each other avoid the old biddy whenever possible. With the library being as big as it was, it was easy enough to get lost in the stacks, and that's where Barbara was right then, in a computer alcove signed in under a guest account and hacked into Queen Consolidated's records.

She pushed a strand of auburn hair out of her eyes, and moved the mouse around on the screen, scrolling down through lists of company holdings and warehouses, looking for anything that sounded like Tyler Chemical. Or even if it just sort of looked like it, if you squinted and turned your head to the side a bit. Barbara did a cursory check of one of the QC warehouses in Gotham and realized that for some reason it was unguarded at night. A closer look showed that the warehouse was usually guarded but there'd been a mix up or something with the shift changes and there was a four hour window where there would be no security on premise.

Barbara electronically covered her tracks and logged off of the computer, checking her phone to see how close she was until the end of her day. An hour - far too long, but at least she wasn't closing the library down tonight, which she often did. Being the youngest meant she didn't mind being up late, which meant she usually was working in the evening. Not to worry, though, she'd just talk to Sophia and get her to cover for her. Barbara ran between the shelves as quietly as she could, walking when she could be spotted, and then hurrying again to find her friend and then get her freedom.

It would be another evening in the Narrows.

[Stephanie Brown]

"You go girl! World's greatest detective! Batman's got nothin' on you!" Stephanie cheered to herself as she approached the warehouse she'd overheard the thugs talking about earlier. Well, truthfully, she more limped towards it, she was still dizzy and suspicious she had a concussion, and she should definitely be at home resting for school tomorrow instead of carrying on, but she'd heard a clue and investigated, and it was paying off! At least, she'd found the warehouse, and just like she'd heard the Crow's say, there was nobody guarding it.

She was still in her full Spoiler costume, of course, and she decided to approach.
"Might as well see what you boys were after, right?" She said to herself as she approached. "Solvin' crime instead of just punchin' it in the face, I'm on a roll tonight!" She exclaimed proudly, pushing on the heavy metal door to the warehouse, and finding that it wouldn't budge. She threw all of her small body weight against it, but hurting as she was, she couldn't muster the strength to open it. She sighed, and took a step back. "It's okay, nobody saw that." She muttered, spotting an open window over the warehouse.

She unhooked her grapple hook and fired it at the window. She snuck on through and lowered herself inside, landing with a bit of a yelp as it made every injured muscle in her body jolt...

[Barbara Gordon]

The warehouse loomed ahead of her, and Barbara tugged on her jacket, a no-rip waterproof nylon shell that unfortunately made a slight crinkly noise when she moved. She'd considered not wearing it, but ending up soaked to the skin because one was too cool to wear a coat in the rain wasn't a great idea. This area of the port seemed totally deserted, and she hurried her steps, trying to stay in the shadows. There were a lot of shadows, so it wasn't too hard, and she crept around the outer wall of the building toward the front.

There was a thump and a yelp inside the warehouse and she paused, one foot in the air. Slowly putting it back down to earth, Barbara grabbed her phone and turned on the camera app... then flipped to a popular social media site. Some people never realized when their phones were broadcasting their location to the world, and perhaps whoever was inside was one of those types of people. She waited a moment, crouched in a puddle and hiding the glow of her screen with her hand as the app cycled up and pinged a GPS satellite. The little map of Gotham began to populate with pins, all representing people who wanted their friends (or the whole world! if they didn't understand the importance of privacy settings) to know where they were hanging out.

Barbara pinched out, zooming in on the right spot, and the map froze for a moment while it filled in more detail.

[Stephanie Brown]

While Stephanie wasn't as stupid as she seemed, she certainly hadn't thought of turning off the GPS app on her phone, mainly because she still used it as a sat nav when lost and it came in useful. Gotham wasn't as easy to navigate from rooftops as some vigilantes made it look. Especially not if you were young and just starting out. Speaking of said phone, Steph held it up and pushed the flashlight button, casting a dim light around the empty warehouse as she looked. Empty in the people sense, not in the content sense, of course.

Crates were stacked hide, and Steph found herself wondering idly if maybe there was a shipment of the new Q-Pad Minis. You couldn't get one for love nor money out on the high street. She shook the thought off almost immediately and felt guilty. She wasn't here to steal. That was her father's gig. Besides, this stuff looked different. Non-commercial, that was for sure. The crates were wooden, and stacked high, stretching off in to the distance. She shined her light on the nearest one, reading the message inscribed.

TOP SECRET
INTEL 9906753
DO NOT OPEN!

She felt her breath escape her, and she looked to see similar inscriptions on all the crates, stretching out down the depth of the massive warehouse.
"Ohhh, if I find the Ark of the Covenant in this place, I'm quitting forever." She said quietly to herself with bated breath. This was no technical warehouse or place to hold shipping. This was something else entirely. Something that shouldn't have anything to do with Queen Consolidated. And worse yet, anything this top secret shouldn't be left guardless, not by an admin error, that was for sure. Somebody had organised this. Somebody high up, who knew all about the secrets here. And if that was the case, when the gang hired to do the theft didn't show... They'd come down all guns blazing.

Steph began to have a sinking feeling that she might be in a lot of trouble.

[Barbara Gordon]

Nothing came up on the app, of course, but Barbara's brain was already considering ways to hack the app and make it ping any phone in the area, not just ones that happened to be users of the same app. She looked down, ready to turn it off, and then a little marker appeared beside her own location. She held her breath, realized it was silly and breathed again, and double checked it. There was someone inside, and they were standing still.

Barbara ran down the side of the warehouse, glancing down at her phone every now and then to make sure the little marker wasn't doing anything drastic. Was it a QC worker? A Crow? The Batman? She nearly giggled at the thought of the Batman using OwlBSeeingU for maps or finding friends. He probably had a lot more sophisticated equipment than - she nearly forgot to check the corner before she ran around it looking for the back door, but stopped in time. She could hear voices, and peeking around the corner revealed a group in black bird masks coming up on the loading dock in the back. There were eight of them, more than she could handle on her own. See Dick, she thought, I know when not to get involved.

Except, she had the nagging suspicion that the person inside the warehouse was a night watchman who hadn't gotten the memo that he wasn't supposed to be there. Barbara took a few steps backward along the wall and tried to think.

[Stephanie Brown]

Stephanie was busy photographing the crates with her camera phone. She figured that the likelihood was that this was something significant, and well, while it was meaningless to her now, she was still working on getting her detective on, and that meant having evidence for later. Unfortunately, she was so engrossed in examining the crates, it was only when one of the thugs snatched her cape and wrenched her back she realised that others had arrived in the warehouse.

"Well, well, well, boys, looks like we've got us a genuine superhero." Came the mocking laughter as she struggled to get free, but they held her cape fast. "Can't say I'm very imp-" Stephanie made sure that was as far as he got, running directly up his chest and kicking him in the chin, flipping backwards over him and landing safely away, cape now free from his grasp.

The other seven thugs closed in fast.

"Aw, nut-" Was as far as Stephanie got before she was fighting for her life, but she was so outnumbered she didn't stand a chance. In moments she was beaten to the ground, pounded from all sides, unable to fend off an attack from this many all at once, especially not in her already injured state...

[Barbara Gordon]

In the end she'd snuck into the warehouse behind the Crows, tiptoeing along at what she considered a 'safe' distance. She'd ditched her noisy jacket outside. Being discovered because of that nylon-on-nylon zwipzwip sound would be worse than ...well, a lot of things. She lost her train of thought as she heard a confrontation. Sounded like the night watchman who hadn't gotten the memo was...

...not a night watchman after all. Unless QC was hiring girls in skintight spandex these days. Barbara winced at one of the blows the Crows put on the girl, and darted forward, her legs moving before her brain had quite caught up to the ramifications of what she was doing. She grabbed the arm of the nearest Crow as he pulled back for another punch and upended him over her hip, throwing him behind her to the ground. A high kick to the left took out the next Crow's face and that was two down before the others realized what had happened.

[Stephanie Brown]

Steph was on the floor, taking kicks from all around, curled over as defensively as she could, bruised arms up and knees curled up to deflect the blows. But one hit to the head, and it'd all be over she knew. The only advantage was that seven thugs were too many to all kick her at once, so she was taking a slightly decreased beating than she should be. And then, all of a sudden, there was a let up. The kicking from one side stopped, and Steph let out a gasp as she felt her bruises throb, but no further pain follow.

And then the kicks stopped from behind. Somebody was there helping her. Somebody who was going to be in an awful lot of trouble very shortly. But in their surprise, they'd forgotten Steph...

Bruised and battered she might be, but she flipped to her feet and drove her fist in to the nearest thug, while kicking at the other. She moved viciously and with speed, using the element of surprise to attack them all. At her size and build, she didn't have the strength to put them down in one punch, so started to rely on her natural gymnastic skill, running to the nearby crates and kicking off them to lift her in the air and let her deliver a high kick, putting one down for good.

She approached the woman, apparently on her side, and put her back to her, so the two were facing out at the surrounding thugs.
"Thanks." She gasped, not sure what else to say for a moment, she was so battered.

[Barbara Gordon]

"You're -" Barbara ducked a punch and barreled forward into the Crow who'd thrown it, clicking his jaw closed with an uppercut punch. "-welcome!" He stumbled backward but another took his place, and she hopped a bit, high kicking him firmly in the mask and sending him spinning to the ground. Taekwondo wasn't exactly made for back to back fighting, and she moved back to where the Hood was, grabbing a guy who was trying to get her from behind and throwing him to the ground. Barbara gave him a solid kick in the ribs and felt hands clawing at her arms.

She was breathing heavily, and managed to get one of her arms free. The Crow on the end of her other arm yanked firmly, trying to drag her off her feet, and she went with it, propelling herself into his side and sending them both to the ground.

[Stephanie Brown]

Steph was trying her best to back up her new assistant, but she was heavily outmatched herself, using her natural gymnastic skills to try and keep ahead of the group, but she was becoming increasingly exhausted as she leapt out of the way, kicking off another crate and using her height to attack. Unfortunately for her, her target was a large, particularly muscled thug who had seen her try the same trick previously, and grabbed her by the foot as she was in the air, and tossed her like a rag doll, Steph's small size and build making her helpless as she was thrown across the warehouse.

She crashed on to the floor and slammed in to a pile of industrial junk painfully, which clattered down around her. She looked up wearily, only to notice a thin metal pole that had fallen practically in to her hands. A bar, perhaps, in design, but for her? The perfect fighting staff.

With one last surge of willpower she flipped herself back to her feet, and span the metal pole around her with surprising skill. She'd practised with enough sticks to be surprisingly skilled with one, and the added weight and length compensated for her small size and weaker frame. And so, she ran back in to battle, this time swinging her pole with controlled skill, knocking down two of the thugs quickly, and running over to the one on top of her mysterious assistant, slamming it against the back of his head.

She smiled, panting, breathless, and yet the two girls were actually winning. She held out a hand to offer to help Barbara up, leaning on her pole, even as the thugs groaned and began to recover around her.
"I think it's 'get the heck out of here' time." She panted, and even though it was hidden by her mask, she managed a tiny smile to her new ally.

[Barbara Gordon]

"Probably wise," Barbara said. The boxes were calling to her, and she wanted nothing more than to tear into one of them to see what it was that was 'falling off the truck' today. The mysterious woman she'd helped was leaning heavily on a pole she'd just been using to whack Crows in the beak with and sounded out of breath. "C'mon."

She stooped and ripped an invoice off of one of the lower boxes, and then led the way toward the back of the warehouse before the Crows could recover. "Do you have a car?" Barbara picked up her noisy raincoat from where she'd stowed it and tucked it under her arm as rain lashed her her in the face. Her own car was still in the shop from her last trip to the Narrows, and she didn't like taking her motorcycle out in the rain.

[Stephanie Brown]

"Uh, no, a Spoilermobile is a little outside my budget." Steph replied, short on breath from the beating she'd taken, and now feeling every ache and pain in the cold lashing rain, which her hooded cape did little to protect her from. Capes looked great, but once they were sodden and soaking, they could really slow a person down. "But I have a grappling hook. I bet they don't. Rooftops are a better place to hide than out here." She suggested, stepping forwards and wincing, her injured leg apparently beginning to give way to her.

"Uh... help me... over there." She pointed, trying not to appear too weak but knowing there wasn't much left. She'd taken on two groups of thugs, and, well, won, truth be told, but she was only an untrained, athletic sixteen year old girl. It was no surprise she was feeling the pain. "And I'll use the grapple to get us both out of here." She said, knowing that it was their only hope before the thugs recovered and gave chase.

[Barbara Gordon]

"Oh, okay..." Barbara said slowly, giving the masked stranger a worried look, but put her arm around her and helping her to the spot she'd indicated. "Are you sure that -" The other woman pulled out a genuine looking grapple gun and held it up, firing it off toward the roof of the building next to them. It was surprisingly quiet, and Barbara paused while the other gave the rope or wire or whatever it was a tug. "That's pretty cool. Will it hold us both?"

[Stephanie Brown]

"I don't know. Ask me again when we reach the top." Stephanie answered chirpily, before realising that was probably not the most reassuring thing to say. Still, no time to argue now, right? The thugs would doubtlessly recover and find them any moment now, and besides, the grapple hook was based on Batman's, or at least, that's what she'd asked for when purchasing it. Which meant it should support a fully grown well muscled man and bat costume, right? Surely two slight girls weighed less than that?

She fired the grapple hook, and fortunately, it supported the two girls, lifting them up to safety.

Once on the roof, Stephanie unhooked it with one last effort, and then collapsed on her back, panting and groaning in pain. It had been a very painful night...

[Barbara Gordon]

Barbara caught her breath from the sudden whoosh up, and turned to see the caped woman lying on the roof, moaning softly. "You can't just stay here, we're still too close." She hesitated, then reached down and grabbed the woman's hand, tugging her to her feet. There were shouts outside the warehouse, and Barbara crouched, hoping the rain would help obscure their outlines on the roof.

"Come on." She released her hand, and ran to the opposite side of the roof to judge the distance to the next building. They were all the same sort of rectangular shape, and the gap wasn't too bad. As the costumed woman caught up, still sucking on her teeth and groaning, Barbara backed up, and then ran right at the edge, launching herself over and landing in a roll that she'd only used in class. Roof gravel stuck to her, and she brushed it off, looking to see if her new friend was going to join her.

[Stephanie Brown]

Stephanie groaned as she climbed to her feet, and she watched as Barbara ran and made the jump to the next rooftop. She sighed. It wasn't an impossible jump, not for Stephanie, but in her weakened state, it wasn't going to be easy either. She ran, and threw herself forwards, across the gap, and landed roughly on the other side, crashing to the gravel painfully. She groaned where she lay, waving Barbara back weakly.

"I... I need to rest... okay?" She practically begged. "I've been fighting those guys all night. I got them better than they got me... but I'm hurt, okay? I can't... keep up... with you..." She explained painfully, hoping that the jump would put enough distance between them that she could, at least, relax a little.

[Barbara Gordon]

Barbara walked back to her and hauled her to her feet. "Lying on a roof in the rain a block away from a bunch of angry gang members isn't a great place to rest. What's your name?"

[Stephanie Brown]

"Ow! Ow! Ow!" Steph complained as she was pulled to her feet, wincing in agony as every joint in her body screamed in pain from the battering she'd taken. "I wasn't looking for the best place to rest! Just anywhere! Give me a chance..." She tried to say. But being pushed on was, surprisingly, what Steph needed. It kept her going when she'd otherwise of given up from her injuries. But even beneath the entire costume, it was obvious she was in pretty rough shape from the way she limped.

"I'm S- Spoiler." She introduced herself, remembering just in time to give her superhero name.

[Barbara Gordon]

"Barbara," she said, finding herself supporting more of the girl than she was expecting. A spandex suit with no kevlar inserts or even football padding to protect the body? No wonder this so-called Spoiler was in pain. "Looks like you bit off more than you could chew back there. You're lucky I came along."

She helped Spoiler walk the length of the roof, keeping as low as she could without the weight of the other girl sending them both to their knees. "You're going to need medical attention, you know. I should take you to the ER...but I have a place we could go. I could patch you up, if you want."