zerocharliexray | [oom] a beautiful night in Gotham City

One brother catches a front kick from Connor, the Green Arrow, and stumbles back; Sharon catches him in the side of the knee with a low kick and follows it with a flying knee to the face as he falls.

She turns to make sure he's down for the count, right before white light explodes in her vision as someone's foot connects with her jaw and sends her head snapping back. Crap.

Her vision's a little blurry, but that amulet is doing its job; she's thinking more clearly than she otherwise might be able and so goes low as the Brother who hit her leaps for another strike, rolling out of his way as he lands and his fist hits the pavement. She leaps lightly to her feet and faces him, refusing to be unnerved by his smile.

Somewhere behind her, there's a scuffle and a shout, and then she can hear Creote, the big Russian, screaming for Savant. Whatever just happened there, it's probably not great.

And then there were six. Against nine. And before Dinah has a chance to deal with that fact, Rabbit's fist appears out of apparently nowhere and everything goes black.

(A warm June afternoon, somewhere on the Pacific Northwest. Birds are filling the air with song, punctuated by the sound of children laughing. So many, children, all blonde and boisterous, just like their father.

"Another hot dog, Pretty Bird?")

And then she snaps back to Gotham, not quite on the floor, but not upright either. She spits a tooth out into her palm, realising the only reason she has room to do so is that Rabbit wanted to gloat.

He's not smart, when it comes down to it.

"Did you really think you could stop our delivery with just eight fighters?"

"Ten," Dinah corrects.

High above the chaos, a single star circles over Gotham – the Aerie One, aloft and listening in.

Zinda's been wincing at each blow and grunt, but she stays focused, painting the boat at the pier with a target each time she circles around. But at Canary's words, she grins, vicious and triumphant.

"This is Zero Charlie X-Ray," she says, over the radio. "How's it looking down there, Sarge? Am I clear to take my shot?"

Bucky dumps the captain's unconscious body on the dock on top of those of the other two crew members who'd had a flash of misguided bravery. They'll be bruised as hell come morning, but they're still breathing. The few others remain huddled in a knot behind bodies and behind the container where he'd ordered them to take shelter, watching him warily but without moving - seems like after seeing him take down the first few, no one wants to be next.

Good.

Keeping an eye on them as he steps back to guard, he confirms, "All clear, Zero Charlie X-Ray. Light it up."

"Copy that. Keep your eyes on the sky."

She arcs the Aerie One out of its holding pattern and the jet responds eagerly, like a hawk arrowing toward prey, swooping low enough that she can make out the figures of Dinah and their friends still locked in battle.

Her targeting array beeps and she lets out a whoop as she thumps the trigger. "This one's for you, Skipper!"

The missile streaks away, cutting a blazing path through the night sky before impacting dead on target. For a second, a tiny sun exists on the Gotham pier, a whump of air displacement expanding out as the cargo ship and everything on it ignites and explodes.

Edited 2022-05-14 16:21 (UTC)

Music to Dinah's ears, that explosion.

Rabbit looks up in disbelief as he sees first the plane, (Dinah stands up) then the missile (Dinah makes a fist) and then the cargo he was tasked to protect, go up in flames.

Dinah draws her fist back - Rabbit is still processing what happened.

The fight was a distraction for the bomb. The bomb was now a distraction for...

...Dinah lands a patented Ted Grant haymaker right in the back of Rabbit's throat.

There's no time for celebration. Huntress is down and the Green Arrow is trapped between three of the brothers. That leaves only Ted, Richard Dragon, Canary, and herself still in play – Creote's distraction gave the brothers too many openings, and he's out for the count, along with Savant.

Sharon herself is getting backed towards a shipping container, two of the brothers stalking towards her. She can't let herself get pinned, but she can use their plan to draw them in. She lets them see a little of her exhaustion, then stumbles. They break for her almost, but not quite at the same time, and that gives her a split-second pocket of time to feint toward one, then hit the other with a front kick right to the solar plexus. She follows it up with a roundhouse to the jaw, which sends her spinning to face the other brother, hands up.

She probably won't get out of this one, but at least she can go down fighting.

Rabbit was a fool to give Dinah time to come round. Dinah is not that fool. He doesn't get a second to recover from the punch - side piercing kick to his jaw, open palm strike to the nose. She can feel cartilege aand bone giving way under her power that terrifying reminder that it feels good.

"Call it, Rabbit."

"You do not kill, Siu Jerk Jai."

Funny that he was relying on that bit of her reputation to be true. A hope that her code would translate to weakness in combat.

(When I look at you I don't believe you're capable of killing me.)

"Correction. I haven't killed."

(So we have to teach your eyes to lie)

"Your mission is over. Your cargo is gone. This is your one chance to say you remain undefeated."

Because if his brothers hurt her friends any more, she will make this a defeat.

"Clearly, then, we've fought to a draw," Rabbit says, bloodied and on the ground but somehow smiling. He raises his voice again:

"A draw, Brothers. We have fought to a draw."

And just like that, the brothers she's facing drop their hands and bow to her. Sharon bows back, a little nonplussed, her head ringing from the hits she's taken, and watches as they regroup with their fallen brethren and those still left standing.

Move your ass, Carter, she tells herself, sternly. It works when nothing else does, and she manages to make her way over to where Huntress is pushing herself up.

Sharon holds out a hand to help her. "Looked good out there," she says, honestly. "I like the brass knuckles."

There are sirens, of course. Gotham's emergency services know what's what, and a superhero throwdown at the docks was probably going to result in arrests being needed.

Fortunately, the Commish already knows the details, so the debrief shouldn't take long.

Dinah helps Rabbit up - only partly because she likes the feeling of being the Bigger Person - and they bow to each other as respected, honored opponents.

Then she spies her missing tooth on the floor, and bends down quickly to retrieve it.

"Going to put it under your pillow tonight?"

Sharon's moving a little stiffly – those brothers hit hard – and there's a beautiful bruise forming on her jaw, but she's in one piece as she comes up to Dinah and nods at the tooth. "Nice work, Dinah."

"My ex-fiance gave me this tooth," Dinah says, semi-defensively. "It would be disrepctful to just leave it lying around."

Well, technically he just provided the Lazurus Pit in which she regrew teeth lost in previous battles. And really, it's just not a good idea to leave bits of yourself around. You never know when some supervillain's going to pick it up and clone a new nemesis for you.

It happens.

She smiles though, exhausted and barely standing, and nods. "Thanks. You did well out there, I really appreciate the assist."

Talking of which, she addes into her comm: "You too, Bucky. Come join us. Lady B, we'll see you at JSA HQ."

Edited 2022-05-14 18:25 (UTC)

"Roger," he hears Zinda reply, and above them the Aerie One banks and heads back toward base.

"Copy that," Bucky says, in turn. "One second." He directs a level stare at the crew. "Pick up your trash and come on," he orders. "That way."

Two of them help the captain up, while the other three collect their unconscious shipmates. Together, weaving a little unevenly, they start along the docks to rejoin the others while Bucky brings up the rear on guard.

Sharon looks bewildered for a minute, then visibly decides she's too damn tired to ask. It's been a long time since she's been in a fight like this, and she's beat all to hell. She's going to be sore for days.

It feels kind of good.

"Anytime," she tells Dinah. "I mean, maybe not this again. Let's shake it up a little next time, you know? Don't want to get in a rut."

"Sure," Dinah says. "If you need a martial artist, or a sonic cannon, or..."

She looks over at Bucky as he marches his prisoners towards them and the cops doing the necessaries and back at Sharon, a ridiculous grin on her swollen face.

"...you know, I'm a florist. In case you need one of those."

Sharon laughs, then winces, her hand going to her stomach, where one of the brothers had helpfully planted a knee only a few minutes ago. "Renaissance woman, huh?"

She follows Dinah's glance and can't help the amusement that crosses her face. "You never know when you might need a good florist," she agrees, solemnly. "But let's rewind back to the sonic cannon thing for a sec."

Dinah doesn't look concerned at the wince, so much as sympathetic. She knows that feeling, well. But now she tilts her head, grinning a little sheepishly.

"You know how it is. Some people can fly, others see in the dark. Me, I can bring an avalanche when I scream. If the rock's loose enough to start with, I mean. Lady B didn't say?"

"To be honest, I haven't talked to her that much. But if she told Bucky, he didn't mention it."

So she's pretty sure Zinda hadn't told Bucky. She thinks that kind of thing would probably come up in conversation.

Sharon gives the other woman an impressed, assessing kind of look. "That's got to come in handy from time to time. So you could have blown that ship to pieces on your own, huh?"

"Could have," Dinah admits. "But it wouldn't have been as exciting. And if we hadn't met the Brothers as we did they'd have come after us as a matter of honour. Better to end it this way."

"I like your style."

She'd like the sonic cannon, too, but she has to admit Dinah seems to have managed it pretty neatly. Aside from the internal bleeding they probably all have. "You'll have some good news for your friend when she gets out of surgery."

Dinah nods, albeit with a sigh and a real pang of worry. "She'd expect nothing less," she says, but looks around to check on the others as she says so.

"Talking of which, you think we're ready to go? We've got the best doctor back at HQ, if he's out of surgery."

Bucky leaves the chastened crew with the authorities and walks up in time to hear this last. He gives Sharon a sharp once-over, checking for signs of injury.

She looks okay, although she's got a bruise blossoming on her jawline and she's moving like she's going to be sore. But she's here, and on her feet, and smiling, and he feels a weight lift from him.

"Saw the Aerie One circle and head back," he offers. "Crew's wrapped up."

Dinah smiles at him, a little warmer when she sees that relaxation, knowing what it means.

"Creote and Savant will be okay at Gotham General," she says, thinking out loud. "Huntress will make her own way back. It's the same crowd in the car."

Gesturing at Connor and Ted, she makes her way over, feeling pain in a new muscle with each step.

"Thanks, Bucky. That was good work."

"Happy to help," he assures her. "That was a hell of a fight you all put up."

"I'd be shrugging modestly but I think my trap is seizing up," Dinah says, deadpan.

She does glance at the others though - Richard Dragon is talking to Helena and Dinah reminds herself to get his number off her later.

...for sparring reasons obviously

"I'm glad they all showed up. Oracle's earned a lot of respect in our community.

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