As it turns out, invisible cars SUCK in big cities. At least, that was the basic message that Lucius was relaying to Crystal as she and Arthur were driven through Burnside in the back of one.
See, despite how cool the concept of them is, it's still a car, not a jet or a sub. So, you still have to watch out for other drivers, none of whom can even see you anymore. Even though a lot of Gotham's residents either already had or were just starting to leave town and visit family as yet another disastrous gang war went on, the city streets were still filled, meaning that they couldn't even make it to Dini Bridge.
"So, what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that we have to steal a car to make it any further.", Lucius explained as he slowed the car down considerably. He continued down a small driveway leading between two three-story buildings in a seedy part of west Burnside, one a bar/brothel, the other a small motel. This short road led them to the two establishments' shared parking lot, gated off and empty. He then parked the Batmobile, which took up three vacant spots, before deactivating the invisibility field and opening the cockpit.
"Will this just be okay here?", Crystal asked as Arthur climbed out, finally putting some distance between the two. Lucius hit a few more buttons before he and Crystal both followed suit. Arthur looked all around for onlookers while the older man replied to her.
"Once we get a block away, I'll remotely send it back to where it belongs. Arthur, do you think you can-"
"I can barely move, man. Let alone get us in a car quietly."
"Okay...I guess-"
"I can do it."
Arthur looked baffled at this, Lucius was on the other hand relieved, he had tech for such an occasion but it hadn't been field tested yet. Batman didn't need to commit grand theft auto anymore, like he every once in a while during the first few months of his career, so there was hardly any reason to. Nevertheless, both men simply watched as Crystal did one of the only things she knew how to do well.
She quickly found the oldest car in the lot that looked reliable, a beat-up old Fairlane.
She told them to keep a lookout as she popped the vehicle's hood, quickly scanning the contents underneath. Arthur put on sunglasses and a ballcap, preventative measures in case they were spotted. Crystal and Lucius knew too much to think such things could hide them from The GCPD, but Lucius pulled his jacket's hood up regardless, and Crystal tied a purple bandana from her purse around her face as her eyes continued to wander, looking for just one, elusive thing.
Fuse box, fuse box, fuse...gotcha!
She mentally yelled out as she finally found the car's fuse box. Crystal slightly tugged the plastic box's lid and it swung right open, and, thankfully, it still had the diagram on the back of the lid outlining what fuse effected what part of the car. She disconnected the car's battery before pulling a small set of needle-nose pliers from her purse, making quick work of the fuse that would've allowed the car's alarm to have activated ad she just forced the door open.
"Got it. Now comes the easy part.", she said, shutting the hood.
Jason had already explained the first change of his to the council over a video chat while he drove himself, Victor, and Rose to their private "park" that consumed Mount Gotham, finishing with, "Those in the militia will wear these new uniforms universally and without exception. No more cowboy operation, "come as you are" bullshit.","
Jean-Paul was the first to respond to this proposition that they all knew was non-negotiable, "Old style, new tech. It could work, if James could get it done."
"He can.", Victor replied.
"Good. Next, Alexi, how many Paladins will we have ready for combat by tonight?"
"Twenty-one."
"Pick ten of them, the ones most suited for flexibility in leadership over the Knights and Militia, and for operating in Gotham. Preferably any that grew up here, in Blüdhaven, or in Hub City. Then head to Slaughter Swamps."
"I can do that."
"Thanks. Floyd, how about Knights?"
"There are a few ready to take the trials of paladins, and a few militiamen are ready to take those of knights...but disregarding that, fifty seven."
"Tell them they'll have to wait for promotions a bit longer, and pick out the thirty showing the most promise. Then coordinate with Alexi. The leftover knights and paladins are going aboard Es Securus for redeployment."
"Where?", the two said in unison. Shiva snickered at them, but Jason continued without comment on the jinx.
"If all goes according to my plans, The swamplands and Mooney Bay will be ours by morning, and Somerset as a whole will follow behind it by the morning after. They can have that time to rest and recoup, but after that, if nothing horrible happens again, Gotham will already be ours in all but name. We need to make sure our vassals remember who they serve, and that our allies know they can trust us. To do that, we need men, experienced men, leading, watching, and protecting them. We can afford delays in Gotham. We can't afford to get caught with our pants down on the international level. You can decide who needs them the most"
"Okay. We'll see to it after the ceremony.", Alexi confirmed, no one disagreeing with Jason's train of thought, familiar enough with his stubborn nature to know he didn't want to hear their opinions on the matter.
"Thank you. How is the setup going, by the way?"
"The rangers are looking the other way for us, as they are paid to."
"Good. We're heading to the FOB in Slaughter Swamp. All goes well, we'll see you in time."
"If it doesn't?", Shiva asked before Jason could end the transmission.
"It won't."
Ted Grant, ex-professional boxer and one of the oldest-living totally human vigilantes, didn't like playing valet for younger "superheroes", nor did he really like the faceless man who'd brought him into the losing side of a game he had no interest in playing while he'd been trying to coach new fighters in his gym across town. But, for the sake of his old friends, Batman and Dinah, as well as the city he and The Caped Crusader shared, he went along with the show.
He distracted himself from the rising discomfort with his situation by focusing on Gotham, trying to absorb it's usual, broad, nihilistic uncaringness, but even the city was absolutely soaked in a feeling of tension, as if the worst was yet to come.
People seemed even more full of rage, both while on the road and off it, cars filled the bridges, especially the roads leading to the mainland or the docks. The monorails were all going at high speeds which indicated people were filling those stations to the brim. Even blimps were plentiful in the sky, when normally there was no more than one or two flying overhead.
Everyone seemed to be running scared...but Ted didn't mind. Less people meant less collateral damage the next time bombs started to go off. The Hoods hadn't let any innocents die during the "battle" they had waged hours before, but that didn't mean that the entire war would go down with so little bloodshed.
When they finally neared the address given to him by The Question, Ted realized that they were headed for the HQ of The Blue Boys, remnants of the gang formed by The GCPD after the government abandoned the entire city a while back. After Gotham had been restored, several cops never went back to the force, deciding to stay in a gang. To fight the enemy on fair terms, so to speak. They still held onto some rules at the start, but had quickly devolved into yet another band of thugs that served The Black Mask. Giving up their place in The Hill for one in The East End, they held onto only one thing separating them from the others who had started serving The Mask: they only served him on the surface level.
From what had Dinah told him, Orpheus, whoever the hell that was, had taken over the gang on behalf of The Batman and had been keeping it somewhat noble as they gathered evidence on the other gangs and The Mask himself, waiting for the opportunity to bring down all of Gotham's criminal element in a single stroke.
This gang had set up shop in the three buildings along Del Ray Street, overlooking Robinson Park. The compound, two apartment buildings next to a hotel by the old opera house, served as the collective center for the gangs operations, it's laundering hub, it's armory and the place where most of its members lived, hiding right across from one of Gotham's most popular tourist destinations.
Hmm...So the guy was obviously Orpheus, and that makes the girl his bodyguard, the "Onyx" woman that Ollie told me about a while back.
He drove into the the mostly full, multi-level parking lot across the street from the opera house, so that no one would see his face. The Question explained this as Ted pulled into the lot, not even needing the older man to even say it.
"Secret identity, and all that. If you ask me, he's a bit paranoid."
Gavin chuckled at this attempt at a joke before replying.
"Did he bring his uniform?"
"Of course."
"Good. When he parks, we'll head on. Meet us in my office, it's-"
"Underworld Apartments, twenty-seventh floor. Easy for entrance and exit via the balconies leading out in each cardinal direction. Smart. Only one floor down from your own room and personal armory, I suspect."
"You've done your homework. The security systems and guards will be called off by the time you two get there, all you need to do is get inside without attracting attention from pedestrians."
"How do you propose we do that?", The Question asked as the three finally piled out of the car, going last himself.
Gavin answered, "There's a marked path in the sewers beneath this place for friends of the bat, leading to various safehouses. My place is one of only a few in Somerset. Follow the marks, soon you'll end up at the manhole cover that'll let you out in that alley, between the two apartment buildings. From there, you two should have it.", before he shut the car door behind them.
While the last bit was muffled due to the closed door, the three who had been listening in on the conversation through a tracker and microphone planted in Gavin's personal limo wouldn't have heard it anyways, as Arthur, who had been raiding Gavin's fridge for anything sweat since they managed to sneak into the building, laughed uproariously.
"Guess that would've been great to know, huh, Genius?", Lucius smiled while Crystal chaffed at the barb, but he continued before either could reply, "Ah, well. Since I'm not the one who's got to pay for those busted cameras, whaddo I care?"
The four of them, two doctors, a gangster, and a certain ex-DA all knew, that taking the boat to shore in mid-day was a bit of risk, Francine worried that the Red Hood might even invoke a Trial of Authority on her for the offence, but Two-Face had managed to convince their two companions with a short story about a man they once knew. As they raced to Money Bay, quickly leaving behind the slower Es Securus, Francine went over the story again and again, analyzing every word, every shift in tone.
"Ya'know, we once knew a guy like you two. He also cared too damn much about the little things. A dollar here, a score there. "But what about the cops, boss?". You two know what happened to him? He went from my right hand guy to just another tool. Eventually, he started screwing up more and more, and an...example...had to be made. You want our glorious leader to not make examples of us all after we failed to even get here in time? We'd best all make ourselves seem especially useful."
"The Red Hood is not you, Dent.", Jeremiah had shot back.
"Maybe not. But there are many different ways to make an example out of someone. And We didn't come this far just to get stuck on guard duty forever. Did you, Arkham?"
After that exchange, they had quickly snuck away from their mother craft. If they noticed, no one was willing to risk sending men after them, or obliterating them with the ship's many, many, big guns. They were around three minutes out, Es Securus close to an hour behind, when Two-Face finally slowed the craft so that they just might be able to slip in undetected by The Mask's ashore.
"So, Doc, what's waitin' for us here?"
"The drones and scans I saw picked up around two dozen men on the compound. Not too heavily armed, but-"
"But, if we start an open firefight, you think the three of us are bound to lose."
"Four."
"Whatev-"
"Can you three cut it out for five seconds? Yes, I think we need to take this slow."
"Then we'll try it. When that inevitably goes wrong, though? We do it our way. Tell us about this compound."
"Old surveillance outpost for the Russians during The Cold War. The reds abandoned the thing after the collapse of the union, and, eventually, Sionis's father's men found it while dumping some poor fools in the muck out here. Since then, they've used it as a place to store weapons an ammo."
"What about now that there's no point? Sionis has cashes and armories full of weapons all over the city."
"Not filled with this kind. This place's got Joker gas, Scarecrow bombs, the whole nine yards."
"Hmpf. And only a couple dozen mooks watchin' it all? You sure?"
"Honestly, there's no way to be sure, Two-Face. Not until we get our boots on the ground."
"Great.", they said, rolling their eyes, Mooney Bay only a few feet from them now.
"Well, let's just hope-", Jeremiah was only halfway through the sentence, the three of them already disembarking, trying to get the boat on solid ground before venturing onward, when an explosion made them all jump, six eyes looking at the fireball roughly above where their target was supposed to be. Gunfire and further, smaller explosions followed the monolithic blast, obscured from their visage by the island's thick swamplands.
"You two good?", Two-Face said, looking over at Jeremiah and Francine with a mischievous smirk. The Arkham Knight and his protégé both put on their combat helmets, nodding, and the four then went further into the brush, content with the fact that there was no going back now.
Only a few seconds into their crouch-run through the foliage and they finally got eyes on the situation.
"Holy shit.", Buck let out. The small outpost was a two-story homestead-like brick home, in disrepair and surrounded by sandbag barricades and wooden watchtowers. And, of course, an intense gunfight. On one side, it's defenders from the Masks of Death. On the other side, were a few of those who'd managed to help their fellow Batman rogues escape from Es Securus. Two-Face had a bit of trouble trying to put names to the two they'd never met, but Buck was a paladin. Studying the rogues of the world was part of the criteria for keeping her job.
Lady Vic and Toyman, led by...Prometheus?
Jeremiah spoke before she could tell her patient and her mentor that they were outmatched.
"If worse comes to worse and we're brought out into the open, Francine, you're on the mercenary. Leave the big one to me."
"You can't fight him, Jeremiah, that's-"
"I know, who he is, trust me. Two-Face, can you take Toyman and his little murder machines?"
"Sure."
"Alright..."
"Um...aren't we gonna-?"
"Not yet. Let the masks run and lock themselves away. We're already about to fight three of the world's most wanted, we don't want to have to worry about stray bullets while we do so."
"Agreed.", Two-Face mumbled, getting back out of sight, the three now waiting for the perfect time to strike. Hopefully without ever being spotted.
It works wonders for the Bat, right?
Set up overnight, the FOB(s) for Operation Marshlands had been constructed: four simple, mainly wooden, foxholes dug and then fortified into the southern side of the northern island of Slaughter Swamps, the southern half a cordoned-off no-go zone, as it was the resurrection point for Solomon Grundy. More big rooms to wait in without worrying about getting spotted than full-on shelters.
The men there were replaced with ones not so exhausted, with the plan being that when Es Securus got close enough, they would send in men from the northern side of the ghastly marsh, Outlaw forces converging on and annihilating the small group of men left by the mask to protect it from cops and curious civilians. But, far past the deadline for the attack to begin, and there was still no word from Liam Taverly, the ship's captain. As if that wasn't enough, they got a call from Alexi about a certain paladin handler's disobeying of direct orders by her commanding officers.
Jason and Rose stood slouching against the wall of the underground base's now empty interior as he called the captain directly, having to wait for minutes on end, which only further inflamed Jason's temper. Finally, the man in charge answered Jason's hail.
"It's one o'clock, where the fuck is your ship?"
"Gotta move slower, sir. The Fog System works, but the ship moving quickly will cause waves, and this close to shore, people will pick up on that."
"Hm...Fine. Oh, and Captain?"
"Yes sir?"
"You care to tell me why Exemplar Alexi knew about you letting two of our most valuable agents just slip away, headlong into unknown territory, might I add, before I did?"
"Uh...Sir, I-I...just let me explain, I-"
"No, Let me explain something to you. You are alive only because I know for a fact that you are loyal. If you fuck up again, EVER, I will see to it that are violently unemployed. Is that clear, Captain?"
"Y-Y-Yes, sir."
"Stop stammering, and stop fucking up. I trust you with this, Liam. And I do not tolerate my trust being broken, be it because of ignorance, arrogance, ineptitude, whatever. Do NOT mistake my trust for reliance."
"I don't sir, I-"
"Am going to start behaving like the man you entrusted your flagship to again, or I will get shown just how replaceable I am.", Jason interjected, hanging up on the incompetent man. Rose, to his side, was quick to try and counteract his overly harsh nature.
"Jason, it's not his fault you hired a literal fucking mental patient."
"No, but it is his fault that he didn't tell me in time for us to catch them."
"And how would we have done that? By the time he knew, nothing we had could've caught them before they reached the island."
"We have the goddamn Batcave, Rose! We could've-"
"First of all, don't yell at me."
"I-"
"Second, you of all people should know that for all the help they can provide, Batman's little gadgets and vehicles and nonsense didn't make him any more capable of being everywhere at once. You, of all people, should know just how little having bat wings on your equipment actually changes a goddamn thing about your situation."
"...That's low, Rose."
"Maybe. Doesn't mean I'm not right. If the only option was his equipment it wouldn't have changed anything. We still couldn't have gotten there in time to stop them, and you know it. So what are you freaking out about, really?"
"...The second they aren't afraid. The second, Rose, that they are more loyal than afraid of me is the second this whole damn thing is lost. You see him not telling me as some kind of a-a favor. I see it as proof that I've been letting myself get too chummy with our men these past few months."
"No, Jason. You've been treating them like a leader should. Inspiring them, instead of treating them like numbers in a ledger of favors."
"...Me looking up to him didn't change anything for me, Rose."
"No...it didn't. But they aren't children. And you aren't him."
"...Yeah, ain't that the truth..."
"Jason-"
"Forget it, Rose. I get what you mean, I'll...go easier."
"Even with Buck?"
"Depends.", Jason mumbled, his scowl lifting just a hint.
"On?"
"On just what she and her merry band manage to get done in the time they've bought themselves."
"Hm...Fair."
"Well, someone did recently tell me that there's no harm in taking things easier. Turn the other cheek and all that."
"Yeah, yeah. Don't get cute."
"I'm already cute. You're the one who needs to up your game.", he said low as the two leaned in for a kiss.
Finally, Alexi opened the wooden door leading into the room, unfortunately ending their moment of privacy.
"Sorry to interrupt tuyur alhubi, but something's going on out here."
"Coming.", Rose replied without thinking.
"Really?", their friend replied, smile on his lips, "Can I get in on-"
"Fuck off, man.", Jason called back, failing to stifle a small laugh at the joke as he and Rose finally got out of the hot and humid hole in the ground.