C.T.

Oh yeah, right, in my mind I was picturing like 30 to 40-ish goons, most of them packing the usual guns you'd expect from mafia/gangsters but a couple got some heavier military grade style weapons like rocket launchers, heavy machine guns, stuff like that sprinkled in.

Thanks, I appreciate that. Some of them are fan art but a couple are from comics : ) And oh I must have missed those typos, fair

So begins Nadia running the Gotham Gauntlet, hope you enjoy. Also, I know Nadia's a relatively newer character to the comics so just a rundown of what she's got going for her, purely for your information - Raised in the Red Room, same place that produced Black Widow - obviously can shrink down or grow big, as well as fly - mastery of 5 martial arts including Krav Maga/trained personally by the Winter Soldier on several occasions - possesses an intelligence that rivals or potentially even surpasses that of her father, Hank Pym So can she handle Two-Face and his army of goons, or can she not? You decide...

♫ You can, you can knock me off my feet ♫ ♫ But I won't stop now, no I won't be beat ♫ ♫ You can, you can knock me off my feet ♫ ♫ But I won't back down, you can take a seat ♫ The song blasted through her headphones as Justine walked through the streets, the sun shining bright overhead, the streets of good old NYC bustling as per usual. A police cruiser rushed by, lights flashing, and as the song she was listening to came to an end, she heard the mention of supervillain activity through their radio as they passed by. It really was business as usual today. So many heroes and villains in town that every day brought something new and crazy, something she was getting more and more used to as she served out her parole as part of Janet and Nadia's growing research labs. It was not a life path she had ever envisioned, but well, it was a welcome surprise fate threw her way. To work alongside other such gifted people...truly a blessing. Better than prison time too. She reached her destination right then, pushing open the door with her back, considering her hands were currently occupied. "Hey!!" She called out as loudly as she could, to get as much attention as possible. "It's chow time, I got all the pizzas!" "Including my--" "Yeah, Ying, including your pie with the pineapples." Justine interrupted, already knowing what she was about to ask. "Tell me you actually didn't get one of those." Amber chimed in. "Hey, she wanted it. Somethin' about trying every flavor combination there is." Justine shrugged. "You know her." "Yeah, yeah...just...some things don't belong on pizza, and that is most definitely one of them." Amber couldn't help but cringe at the mere thought of it. "I don't disagree but you try telling that to the trained fighter--" Justine began to say before being cut off. "You two are aware I'm still right here, yes?" Ying questioned, one eyebrow raised at the rudeness of talking about her like she wasn't. "Sorry." "Sorry." They said in unison, though Amber was quick to add: "I stand by what I said though. Can't believe you're actually gonna eat that." "Oh don't listen to them, it's not so bad!" Another voice contributed to the talk, that being Shay coming to her girlfriend's rescue, one arm wrapping around Ying. "Of course you would say that." Amber grumbled, but it was more teasing than serious. Justine was quick to move on, however. "Here, Shay, double pepp!" "Oh yeah, thanks! Can never have too much pepperoni, y'know?" "Now that, I can agree with." Justine smirked, before looking around. "Hey, where's Nadia and Priya? Gotta get them theirs, too." "I don't know, haven't seen them in a bit. Amber?" "Oh yeah, they're about to start testing on Nadia's new project." "What??" "You waited until now to say that?!" "Shit, we gotta get down there, I wanna see!" Several of the girls spoke up at once, all of them rushing down the stairs, as fast yet carefully as they could, with their hot pizzas in hand. When they got to Nadia's lab though, they went completely silent save for the eating of their food, all eager to see how this went. It was like they were watching a movie. Best seats in the house. ------------------------------------------------------- "Are you sure this will work?" Priya asked, unable to hide the tinge of worry in her voice. She trusted Nadia, wholeheartedly, but this was...a bit much. Nadia did not even hesitate to answer, and it was not a reassuring one. Neither was that smile. "Nope!" "What?!?!" Nadia had already raised her hands in a placating manner, clearly having anticipated such a reaction. "Now, now, hear me out Priya! I am aware that is not the answer you wished to hear, but believe me when I say I have taken every precaution I could think of to ensure the safety of everyone here. I don't...don't wish to hurt any of you." Not again, she left that part unsaid. "I know, Nadia, but..." She trailed off, eyes begging for more of an explanation. One that the young Wasp was more than willing to give. "There is a lot that could happen here, potentially. Temporal displacement, dimensional shifting--" She cut herself off from going on as she caught the look of growing apprehension on her friend's face. "BUT!" She swiftly interjected instead, pointing her index finger high in the air. "I have prepared thoroughly for this. Weeks of planning, setting up a proper controlled environment...and more than that, science thrives on exploring the unknown! Pushing boundaries, navigating the unfamiliar! Hundreds of years ago, many sailors lived by that creed when they packed up to explore what was to them, an unknown, uncertain world. Many, many people before them and many, many after them know that just as well as they do." "...A lot of awful stuff happened alongside that, Nadia." "I know." She stated solemnly. "History is full of tragedies, mistakes, awful things. I can't...can't fix everything. Mr. Richards, Mr. Stark, Riri, me, all of the geniuses I know, even together that's not something we can do. Or should even consider, truth be told. The ramifications, I can't even imagine...but that's a discussion for another time. All I can do, is what I've always wanted to do, and that is to stand for what's right. To use my intelligence to make the world a better place. To stand alongside brilliant girls and push the idea of what's possible...............safely." She added that last word with a half innocent, half cheeky smile. Priya sighed. That superhero girl and her winning smile. If the Richter scale measured adorableness, Nadia's face at that moment would be off the scale entirely. "Okay, okay. I'm convinced that you've prepared as much as you could. Let's get on with this." "YEAH!" Wasp cheered, pumping her arm in exactly the same way she'd seen others do it in that movie Shay had made her watch last week. Somethin' to do in celebration, Shay had explained to her. Priya rolled her eyes, but it was all in good fun rather than a mean or jerkish manner, judging from the small smile that went along with it. "Pushing the button in three...two...one..." The countdown went smoothly, the button pushed...but for all Nadia's preparation, in that moment something occurred that she could not have possibly anticipated. Something that threw a wrench into her plans. The flash of white light illuminated the whole room, no, more than that. It blinded everyone present, and it took almost a minute for all the people around to regain their sight. When they did, one thing was plainly apparent. Nadia was no longer where she had been. Almost everyone spoke up at once after that, worry, concern, fear, etc all expressed by most of them, save for one. Tai was the sole calm person in that moment, and she made it known as she loudly cleared her throat to get all their attention. "Guys, it's Nadia. Girl's a mess a lot of the time yet somehow, she always pulls through. Whatever just happened now, I'm sure she'll be fine. She'll make it back. It's a superhero thing." "...Well, here's hoping she gets back before her pizza gets cold." Amber remarked, earning at least one or two chuckles from the others. Justine could only stare at where Nadia had been standing. Yeah, something new or crazy every day, she thought to herself. ------------------------------------------------------- At the same time, Nadia was also thinking to herself, though it was a much different thought: This is not good. "Priya? Shay?? Ying??? Anybody????" She gave a brief effort of speaking through her comms, but it was a fruitless effort. Nobody responded. Actually, there was no sound at all, not even the shrill infuriating sound that said she was out of range or her comms unit was faulty. Truth be told, she would have preferred even that annoying noise to the utter, creepy silence that she was experiencing. The young Wasp was indeed fine...well, at the very least, unharmed. Only time would tell how long it would take her to get back to the others at the labs. For when she had opened her eyes, it was a much different sight that greeted her than the one of just seconds beforehand. For one thing, it was night time around her now, while the morning had just gotten started back at the lab. More than that, she was atop a roof overlooking a city, and while she hadn't been to every part of the huge city she lived in to say with absolute certainty that this place wasn't NYC, it definitely was unfamiliar to her. The pale moonlight illuminated a city that had clearly seen better days, but she did not have much time to take in all the surroundings. An earsplitting shriek erupted close by, too close, and before she could even turn fully, the source of said shriek was upon her. It slammed into her at high speed, knocking her right off the edge of the building into the alley below. She didn't get a real good look at the thing, whatever it was that had just hit her. She was more concerned with righting herself mid-air, her own bio-synthetic wings emerging to slow her descent enough to land on the concrete safely, but she was aware of the shadow that briefly eclipsed her as the creature continued on flying past. The thought of pursuit ran through her mind, but she did not get the chance to act on it before another sound drew her focus. The sound of someone speaking, that is. "Well well well..." The voice started, and she shot a glance over her shoulder, getting a glimpse of a tall man nearby. Half his body was framed in light from how he had positioned himself under the faulty street light he stood under, the rest was shrouded in darkness. "It's a bit late for little girls to be in these streets, isn't it? This town's dangerous, y'know." "I picked up on that, yes." Nadia couldn't help but respond with snark fitting a teenage girl who had eagerly thrown herself into catching up on American culture with her friends to make up for her years spent growing up in a much less than ideal manner. "I am no stranger to danger, however." "Hrm." The stranger grunted noncommittally, giving Wasp a rather intense lookover. "Yeah, you do look like the type, in that getup." "And what type would that be?" He did not answer. He instead continued on into another question. "So why are you out here so late, girlie? Lookin' for someone or somethin' specific?" Nadia's eyebrow raised at the rudeness of being ignored so bluntly, but she decided to give the man the benefit of the doubt. "Sorry, did you not hear me? I asked, what type would that be?" The man ignored her again, but this time he did not ask another question. He didn't say anything at all, actually. He simply stared at her with the one eye she could see from here. An unmoving gaze, staring her down, as if waiting for her to answer his question or to do something else. It would have been unnerving to most teenage girls, but she did not fit the profile of regular teenage girl in that way. People had done their best to beat even the very concept of fear right out of her from a young age. She wasn't afraid, but as the silence dragged on and the staredown continued, it became abundantly clear that this man would not be giving her the answers she was seeking. So it was that she broke the staredown herself, turning away and lifting up into the air with her wings. "If you're not going to help, I will just have to find someone that will. Goodbye now." She said without looking back to the man. The man, having moved and now fully shrouded in the darkness, watched her go, gaze casually tracking her as she flew through the sky. He coldly replied to her, though she did not hear it. "See ya, girlie. See ya real soon." ------------------------------------------------------- The intrepid hero flew through the air over the city, taking more and more of it in, but to her disappointment, seeing more of it did not help her recognize it any better. After quite some time had passed during her flight over the urban landscape, it seemed correct to say she shot straight past hypothesis and into proven fact about this city...it was not New York. Yet it was a modern city, if rundown, and so it was then that the lightbulb went off in her head. Her comms may have been down, but...there were satellites orbiting far, far above her now, there had to be. She halted in mid-air and yanked her phone out with impressive speed. Oddly, however, she had no connection. Her eyebrows furrowed before her whole head lifted up, peering straight into the sky above, like she could see the satellites from way down here. Did...did I go back in time, somehow? Temporal displacement had been one of the potentials she had brought up earlier, but in all honesty, she had ranked that possibility as one of the most unlikely. No, no, can't be. This city looks modern. So what then? Meh, not crucial right now. She shook her head clear and re-focused. The why could wait. Her phone may not have connection right this second, but that was a problem easily solved. Nadia swiftly reconfigured her phone, establishing connection, again giving out a fist pump at being right, there were satellites up there. Once connected, she switched over to the maps app and zoomed out to see where she was actually at. A name just as unfamilar as the city itself greeted her. "Gotham?" She questioned, inquisitive and confused. Not only did she not recognize this place by sight, she had never even heard of a place named that. And she had on more than one occasion, gone through a global map of the world and studied every last detail, thinking about places she would love to visit. Of all the things she would do when she visited them one day. Nights at the Red Room where she had been raised, when they were not brutal or soul crushing, were boring. She'd had to entertain herself somehow back then. A place she didn't know, a phone that wouldn't initially connect to the satellites in orbit, a completely silent comms unit...all these were adding up to a not so great scenario. The possible implications were "so not dope", as Tai would have said were she here at this moment. Nadia didn't get to contemplate much, however. The sound of something racing through the air behind her stole her attention and she shot a glance over her shoulder, catching a glimpse of something she did not like. No, not at all. Her eyes widened, and her whole body turned in full, raising her hands just in time to fire off a bio-electric zap that intercepted the rocket before it could reach her. It didn't reach her fully, but the mid-air explosion still sent her down to the streets below. She hit the ground and rolled. She took it like a champ though, not even letting out a single ow before getting back onto her feet. Her eyes narrowed. She didn't even have to look hard for the source of that attack. There was practically an army staring her down, thugs and enforcers and the like, from the looks of it. And beyond them...she squinted. Was that... The figure emerged from the darkness and stepped fully into the light, revealing himself completely now. She recognized him from before, well...half. A full half of his face had been burned away by something, she could only guess at what right now but that was not exactly high on the priority list. Something had done that to him and left him in that way, and she had to admit, it added a lot to the cruel expression he currently wore. "Hello again, girlie. Promised I'd see ya real soon, didn't I?" "Did you?????!" She replied, bewildered. He chuckled back. "Guess you missed that part." He may have been chuckling but she was utterly unamused. "Guess I did. So, what do you want here, exactly?" "It's like I told ya before, girlie. This town's dangerous, see. And the last thing we want or need around here, is another superhero." "Wait wait wai--" "No, no. We're ain't waiting. One way or another, we're gonna take care of this. The only question is...how bad it's gonna be for you? Let's find out." He reached into his pocket, withdrawing a coin and giving it a nice flip. He covered it with his hand as it landed and slowly pulled the hand away after, unveiling it in as dramatic a way as he could. "Looky there. Dead it is." His gaze moved from the coin to her face. "Sorry, girlie. Lady Chance has spoken. She says you gotta die." His gaze shifted away from her to his army of goons. "Alrighty boys, let's get this done!" "...Bozhe moi." She spoke under her breath, complete with an exaggerated facepalm, before she shifted into a combat stance for the fight coming her way.

Removing yourself from the bracket leaves us with an odd number of 9.

A scaled up monkey is never gonna beat a walking nuke reptile

Sure, why not

Surely the makeup and prosthetic work to transform the actor into the Creeper can win here...

Yeah, I don't think Shadow will be too convincing

Damn...

Yeah, betting on Boba here

There's no denying Bruce's physical prowess but this is like a typical tuesday thing for Black Cat given comics while this would be more a new experience for Bruce, so I figure Cat's got this.

Umm...I don't think R2 has the ability to really create things on his own, like he's awesome and clever astromech droid but like, no limbs. Unless we counting him just advising people on his behalf

Huh, tough one...I'm leaning Austin though