Tonnage

The Friendliest Fire.

>>

As Tom turns back to the gate he can see it being opened. That detective guy is attempting to slip in and leave everybody else out here.

Gripping the gate in a hand the size of a ham, he stops the thing on its way back to closed like it is somehow sunk into the bedrock, the mechanism stopping automatically as a safety feature. Bullock immediately turns and throws a hand up, his mouth already opening in protest.

“Just got a call from Oracle, they need help in there, and that is where I am going. You can be in front of me, behind me, to my side, or in my way. Pick one, but the last won't hold.”

Lace speaks up from behind. “Tom, SWAT is here. We'll be heading in soon.”

Stepping through the gate and looking around to get his bearings, Tom answers as Bullock gets a phone call.

“The Bats asked me for help. I don't know why yet, but if they asked me I think you should stay out here for a bit.” The massive teen flips on his speakers as he is getting far enough away that he knows from experience that they won't be able to hear him if he doesn't.

“Gimme five minutes to remind a few people that civility is worth having, by showing them the result of it not being there.”

Then the black shrouded form with a massive metal construction on his head and back hangs a left and follows the sound of the gunshots. Cranking the volume up as he goes. If they are screwing with him, then they aren't messing with whoever they're shooting at now. The courtyard comes into view, and the shadows of the unlit yard are offset by the flashes in the towers as guns are fired almost continuously at a small shed on the far side, narrowly missing the throng of lunatics that are psyching themselves up for another run at whoever is back there. With his powerful, Watchtower-provided speakers, his voice rumbles out over the scene like a demigod had lowered itself to step up to the mic. Once more he doesn't have to think hard to guess what Fred would have said, or near enough to it. His attitude lays like a dew over Tom's mind. Easily accessible. Not memories. He doesn't know the man's life. But his attitude and demeanor either came through, or they're inevitable when you are living this life.

Tom notes that thought. He may need to look closer at it later, but for now, he's busy and about to get more so.

“BRING IT ON, BITCHES. LET'S SEE IF THEY'VE DROPPED YET.”

To say he has the attention of the yard is a massive understatement, and a veritable avalanche of lead immediately starts falling on him.

>>

Oracle: Sweet hell. Uh, Tom is in the courtyard and he has zero sense of humor at the moment.

B: Is there going to be a problem?

Oracle: I don't think so. He just fired his basic grapple at a tower and tore off the safety rail. They were smart enough not to fall, but...

Oracle: He just threw the safety rail at the tower. Two are running, but most are still shooting at him. He is barely even paying attention to them though, honestly. He's just making his way to the shed where Robin and a bunch of thugs are.”

Nightwing: I am on my way. Firefly's drop can wait, it is sounding like you people need a hand sooner rather than later. Maybe four minutes out.

Robin: He must be here. I can hear bones breaking in the gaps in gunfire. I am pretty sure they are still shooting at him and accidentally shooting a lot of the other inmates that he's dealing with.

Robin: He just backed up to the gap and hit something that opened his carrier. Will that thing stop bullets?

Tom: It should. I can't even pronounce whatever the hell it is made out of. But after you get in, I'm gonna pull a King Kong. This gun thing is getting old. There's a gap against my back where you can plug into my optics and a handle on the inside so you can get out when you want. Cyborg went a little nuts with it.

Tom: For now, consider me the armored transport to your Burt Gummer. Annoyed armored transport. Let me know when you're ready.

Robin: Who is Burt Gummer?

Nightwing: Oh, baby bird. You wound me. This must be fixed.

B: … The backup generator is not functional. Based on evidence at the scene, somebody went at it with a hammer. I'm going to have to find where the power from the mains has been disrupted. In the meantime, Oracle, see about getting another generator out here. From anywhere we can. Some systems are better than none, and the backup batteries have less than an hour of power remaining. If this place loses all power with the inmates loose and drugged out of their minds...

Oracle: Understood. He's heading up the first tower. Once they are clear, getting paramedics in should be possible.

Tom: Nobody out here is bleeding 'cause of me. But a lot of them got shot or hit by ricochets from people trying to kill me.

Tom: I suppose I should feel bad about that, but given the people that got shot were collectively trying to commit murder at the time I think I'll be alright.

B: … That is not optimal.

Tom: That is Darwin taking his due. It'd be like feeling bad for the drunk driver.

Jay-Bird: That is the funniest thing I've heard for weeks, and it is so damn true.

>>

Tom makes it to the top of the first one, at which point three jump into some bushes thirty-five feet down, and two more keep shooting until Tom has taken away their guns, snapped an arm and a leg, and growled menacingly.

The three that jump he isn't expecting to be a problem. They jumped into bushes that were set into a giant concrete tub, and Tom is pretty sure they didn't know at the time that it was five feet of concrete and a foot and a half of bush.

He honestly has no clue how Batman brings people in alive when they are this freaking dumb. But at least they aren't hurting innocent people. Speaking of...

>>

Tom: Hey, Robin. It's gonna take me a few minutes to clear the other two towers. You want me to drop you off at the doors so you can help the girls?

The response is slow to come. As if the boy is physically pained at the very concept of leaving a battlefield, even if it is simply to go to another one.

Robin: … Yes.

>>

A forty-foot drop isn't much to him, but Robin might not be a fan of the drop while trapped in a metal box, so Tom climbs down again, still feeling and hearing the bullets as they slap his body and ping off the metal he wears. But it doesn't take long to get to the entrance.

He's still taking shots from the front, but they have no chance to hit anything past him.

>>

Tom: Who was it exactly that hurt that woman?

Oracle: That was the serial killer, Victor Zsasz. He carves a hashmark on his body for every person he kills. His body is covered.

Tom hears the locker close again and starts forward.

Tom: I'd like to meet him.

B: No. He's under control. You have a task. Try to be less bloodthirsty. You can survive this easily. There is no need to destroy the future of these people.

Tom: What future? If any of these people get declared sane, they'd have to follow that up by hanging themselves for me to believe it. How do you murder dozens of people and then become sane without the guilt killing you anyway?

Tom: (sound of conflict alert: file saved)

Oracle: The second tower is clear. Tom, they're scum. But don't get yourself in trouble. They are bad people. But they aren't Scarecrow, and they aren't Firefly.

Tom: They aren't getting around too good at this point either. But they aren't going to die. Just a few broken bones so they'll stop shooting at people.

Tom: You'd really think they'd learn to stop shooting at me.

Tom: It isn't like it's working.

>>

Robin makes his way to the stairwell they are supposed to be at, and sees that the two of them have moved the woman onto a bed in the infirmary, then locked every access to the room. When they see him, Orphan lets him in.

Tom: (sound of conflict alert: file saved)

Spoiler glances over from where she is peering out the window that leads to the stairs. “Tom is just going to town out there, isn't he?”

Robin half-smirks as he looks at the rush job they've done on the woman. “He isn't popular with the locals for some reason.” His smirk vanishes. “How bad is it?”

Orphan taps on the taser that still has lines going into Mr. Zsasz. Robin isn't quite certain how many times they've hit him with that. But he is lying in a puddle of his own piss, and based on the amount of red he is spitting it seems a given he's bitten into his tongue at some point.

Spoiler grimaces a little as she responds. “It's not as bad as it could be. She has a creased rib and I think a nick into her abdominal wall. It's very survivable as long as we can get her real medical attention from doctors before anything goes worse for her. I'm mostly worried about infection. Zsasz stabbed her with a clipboard he'd snapped and we think he used the concrete in his cell to sharpen it. How they screwed up badly enough for him to get his hands on one at all amazes me, but the freak cut himself with it before he cut her. The thing needs to be burned except its evidence now.”

Tom: (sound of conflict alert: file saved)

He can't help it. Robin's head jerks in the direction of the courtyard. Where he suspects that Tom is mounting the last tower, or just finished doing so.

Oracle: Jim is on-site with two Swat units and about fifty cops. Are things under control enough for them to take over?

B: Crane, Fries, and Joker are still unaccounted for, not to mention a smattering of other hard cases. Mary Dahl and Jane Doe were among them. At this point, however, I think it is unlikely they are still on the property. Oracle, I should have power from the city back here within a few minutes. Once that is done, will you be able to lock things down remotely?

Oracle: Sure, barring the gates being blocked open by something.

B: (PM to: Oracle) Then get them in here once you can do that, and send Tom home. I am not positive Crane is off the island. Tom is already far too willing to maim. I'd prefer he wasn't here if any of the bigger names are. And don't let him near Zsasz.

Oracle: (PM to: B) He's here with emergency services. How exactly am I supposed to do that?

B: (PM to: Oracle) This is not negotiable. Figure it out. I recommend using the Commissioner, he has a good relationship with Tom.

Oracle: (PM to: B) We are going to talk about this later, B. I am willing to work with you as always. But I am neither a slave nor a stooge, I won't be treated that way, and if you are so sure Tom is a liability tell him yourself. I'll get him out this time because getting him away from all of this after the fire is probably a good idea. But if you think he needs better training, do it yourself like you would for any of the rest of us. Otherwise, when he's willing to help and is working within the law as a man defending himself from maniacs with guns I won't say a damn thing to him. Remember that.

B: (PM to: Oracle) If he keeps going the way he is, he'll kill somebody.

Oracle: (PM to: B) Then given what I know of him, they'll deserve it. I won't hide this conversation anymore. If you keep this up, know it will be laid out in the main chat for all to see, including Jim.

There is no further response to that, and Oracle begins directing traffic between the Bats, the city...

And Tom.