Party Crasher

April 04, 2018:

Misfit crashes Titan Tower and Dinner

Titan Tower

Titan Tower main living area.

Characters

NPCs: None.

Mentions: Robin, Batman, Wonder Girl

Plot:

Mood Music: [*\# None.]


Fade In…

*

Caitlin narrows her eyes at Bart. Across the playing field, their eyes lock. Neither moves for a second. Caitlin's brows droop. She glances down at her hands. Back up at Bart. She makes a subtle movement, her soft shoes scraping against the ground underfoot. There's a creak of plastic and steel as she shifts her weight slightly.

She cocks her arms dramatically, then starts flinging her left hand forward, rapid-style.

"Skip, skip, reverse, reverse, DRAW FOUR!" Caitlin crows, throwing her Uno hand down like shuriken. They land in a neat pile in front of Bart, mocking him, and Caitlin lifts her arms overhead, and declares victory with a "woo!"

She snaps her fingers and points her pointers at Bart, grinning victoriously. "Suffer defeat! The last slice of pizza, /is mine/," she declares, reaching for said snackage. Wearing her faded salmon hoodie and comfortable grey workout leggings, she bounces her heels on the ground and beams at Bart.

"Wanna play again? Loser shuffles," she reminds him, before taking a bit, mocking bite. And savouring it with a belittling "mmmm".

*

"Whaaat?!" Bart groans, letting his cards slap against his face and fall to the floor from between his fingers as he drags his hands down his cheeks. Flopping to sit in a cross-legged position where he'd been standing, he scowls as Caitlin claims her prize, flicking a finger at one of the cards that had fallen.

He wrinkles his nose at her as she makes an obvious show of enjoying her victory. "What's the point? There's no more pizza," he grumbles. Letting his fingers drum over his knee for a second or two, he's up on his feet in the next, and when he's resettled on the latter half of that second he's already gathered the cards, not necessarily for another game, probably, but he's shuffling them to keep himself busy with something.

"We still got ice cream in the fridge?"

*

Well there are worse things to interrupt then gambling over food.

That said there is a flash of pink and purple smoke in between you both pinkurple!! and Misfit hits the ground hard enough to make a terrific THUD. Thankfully her costume has soem armoring for kinetics right? Maybe?

There is a wheeeeeze as the young redhead hits the floor .. .. then another wheeze.. her breath is just knocked out for a moment from the impact but with the rest it presents a scene. The rest being that the front of her bat gear covering her stomach is pretty well shredded and there is blood all over her gear. Easily enough to freak people out, though a good close look shows healthy pink skin not guts everywhere.

Are there alarms in Titan's tower for intruders. Probably. Maybe. We are totes about to find out.

*

"Ack!" Caitlin says. Helpfully. She's slightly stunned, but maanges to shoot to her feet. "ACK!"

"BART! ACK! WHAT!" she remarks, coherently, her green eyes as wide as saucers as a blood-soaked creature *PHWOMPS* into existence in front of Caitlin. She seems slightly jarred off her mental track by the manifestation of Misfit in the middle of their card game.

Alarms start clanging at an unidentified intruder in the Tower, joining in Caitlin's noisy, nonverbal complaints. Fortunately for the Titans, while Caitlin is somewhat nonvocal for a moment, there's nothing wrong with her reflexes— she grabs the nearest handy object and swings it at Misfit.

The nearest handy object is the sofa.

*

Bart processes all this in typical Speedster-fashion, or at least Allen-wise. Of course, there's still nothing in between the poof of (familiar?!) smoke that erupts between himself and Caitlin, but his mind's already jumping mental hurdles to recall where he'd last seen such a color.

It's much easier to identify when the girl appears, bloodied but oddly enough, not injured? There's a lot of questions there, tops probably being what Misfit was doing dropping in like that but there's a lot of other things happening in response that asking those questions doesn't seem the best thing to do just yet.

He's on his feet again while Caitlin's yelping in a panic. The alarms are going wild, but that's to be expected when someone's bypassed security completely. It's not very far that he has to move to get to Misfit's side, but a glance towards Caitlin is enough to tell him then that the alarms aren't the only thing freaking out.

"Whoa, Cait! Pause!" -that's not how life works, Bart. Either way he's moved to scoop up Misfit, and if Caitlin's already weaponizing the couch at least he can vibrate through it with their surprise guest.

*

Thankfully Bart is there to help Misfit out. Being crushed by a couch would completely ruin her weekend plans.

There is a yelp as Misfit is scooped up at superspeeds. Though the yelp turns into a really amazing acoustic effect. "H-h-h-h-o-o-o-l-l-l-y-y-y-y cc-c-c-r-r-r-a-a-a-c-c-c-k-k-k-e-e-e-r-r-rssSss" as Bart vibrates them out of phase with the world so the couch goes right through them and shatters to splinters, random flying cushions, and some couch springs. Okay Misfit is totally clinging to Bart now.

"Woah.. WOAH!" eyes wide behind her goggles "Stop the Loud!" the alarms.

*

Caitlin blinks when Misfit is abruptly Not There, and startles when Misfit is abruptly There— in Bart's arms, ten feet away.

"Wh- what?" She looks a little baffled, her reflexes moving faster than her brain can keep up with. She's already moving towards the control panel, intent on sending out a general distress beacon, but Bart's actions pause her before she makes it more than a few long (really long, she is tall) strides.

"B-Bart? Who is … that?" Caitlin inquires, hand pausing before hitting the All Stations alert that'd radio every Titan, AND the League headquarters. "Is that a friend of yours?"

*

Wincing at the fate of their poor couch, Bart looks down at the cushion that bounces over by his sneakered feet. "For the record, I'm not explaining that one to Double-R," he says.

"Relax Cait, it's…Misfit, right?" He looks down at the young woman clinging to him. Well, at least she seems all right enough that she's able to move. "Umm, can we turn those off before someone thinks the Tower's exploded again?" he asks as he squints at the alarms, moving to set Misfit down if she lets him.

He's not in costume at the moment but it's probably not too difficult to guess who he is despite the maroon hoodie and jeans. "You okay? What happened?"

*

Msifit ends up on her feet out of Bart's arm. She is a bit wobbly of course after being speed vibrated through a couch. "Uh oh.. u.. right .. Misfit…" she blinks behind her goggles.

"Fairchild why did you hit .. uh try to hit me with a couch…!?" she blinks looks down at her bare stomach "Okay.. so Toyman updated his machine gun bears to explode… ouch……"

Slow pause and Misfit looks slowly between Bart and Fairchild. "uuuuh… um… this isn't the bat.." stops cold "right.. uh.. I must have been thinking of our fight with Toyman?" she says weakly. "Hi again.. ugn Batman is going to be so mad she made me promise to not pop into people's lairs… this is a lair right?"

*

"Misfit!" Caitlin's hands fly to her mouth. "I'm so sorry! Oh my gosh! Ha-hang on! I'll get the medical kit." She presses the Alarm Override button, killing the screaming klaxons. She dashes towards the hallway and opens a closet, revealing a bright red duffle bag with the instantly recognizeable white cross on it. She rips it from the closet and runs back, worry and apology written on her features.

"Gosh, I am so sorry!" she says. She skitters to a halt near the two of them and unzips the medical kit, displaying well-organized medical gear. Red Robin leaves little to chance, and the medical gear is no exception. "I didn't recognize you. The blood and everything— Toyman, again?" she says, looking dismayed. She starts checking Misfit for serious injuries, her motions swift but deliberate and a juxtaposition against her frantic tones.

*

With her looking so unsteady, Bart isn't about to move away from her. He keeps a hand on her shoulder just in case.

"Toyman? Exploding machine gun bears?" It's probably a very interesting image in his head. As Caitlin goes to grab the medical kit, the Speedster looks at Misfit again. "But…where'd all the blood come from..?" he can't help but ask, as he can't see any wounds, and yet Misfit's costume looks like it took more of a beating than she did.

"Er… Wel…come to Titans Tower?"

*

Misfit isn't as fast as Bart on her mental feet but she probably does have chaos induced ADHD. "I…" then Caitlin is gone to the hallway and Bart is asking her about gun bears "Oh hey.. yeah you know.. he makes robot toys.. I think robots.. they had machine guns before but he must have rigged them with some sort of self destruct. I went to use one against the other bears and BOOm"

Her recounting is cut off when Caitlin runs back up and starts to examine Misfit. "Oh… u… hey…" Bart is absolutely correct Misfit is totally okay, if a bit sensitive where Caitlin is checking for injuries. Well and ticklish. She giggles a bit "I… heal when I bounce.. .. I'm lucky I didn't pass out when it hit me or man that… wow it was a big bomb…" she touches the edge of her suit. "The material is really.. sturdy .. I bet it took out the other bears…"

Misfit stops rambling and peeks around. "Ooh.. ok.. now Batman and Robin will be pissy with me… ugn… he probably already knows from the alarms too…"

*

Caitlin's as apologetic as it gets, but she checks Misfit for wounds like the most seasoned of nurses. Poke, prod, wipe, PINCH! She pushes Misfit around until the big ginger is convinced that her friend isn't leaking arterial blood, then sags back with a sigh of relief. "I'm just glad you're OK," Caitlin tells Misfit, her voice carrying a scolding note. "You scared me to death, y'know! Just popping into the Tower like that— I dind't even know you COULD do that," she remarks. "But it still scared me!"

She looks at Bart, wiping her hands clean on a damp cloth to clean her fingers. "Misfit and I met a few months back. Some lame D-grade villain with exploding teddybears. Looks like he's upgraded since then," she says, lips contorting to a scowl.

*

"Oh, cool…" Healing when she 'bounces'? That is a pretty nifty ability. "Well, at least you're okay. And I mean, there's worse places to end up, I guess." Bart grins crookedly then. "Anyway, it's not like you're the first unexpected visitor to pop into the Tower lately." It seems like they've been getting plenty of those lately, from Asgardians and their goats to Superman of all people!

He looks at Caitlin, nodding. "Oh, I see. Yeah, I ran into her some months back too." Literally. "So where's this Toyman guy now?"

*

There is a squeek as Caitlin pinches hard like that "seensssitive" Misfit hisses and bats at Caitlin's hands. She adjusts her suit as best she can blushing now. It doesn't help that Caitlin calls Toyman D-Grade and Lame, cause well his bear kicked Charlie's butt just now. Though she was careless.

The reason she heals is pretty mind tripping and complex and disturbing. Not that Misfit has any idea how or why it works really so no explanations are forthcoming. "I.. uh…" she pauses "Probably Metropolis.. he was trying to make a get away when the bear exploded… he probably got away." pause "I could bounce in on him but my gear is trashed… and I don't have intel.. so rules say don't just bounce in on him." okay that has disturbing implications.

"This room is nice… so … this is a Tower not an underground lair?" squint at a window. "Do bad guys know you are here and they don't just try to blow it up….?" and on to another topic, rambly rambling Misfit. "Do I smell pizza?"

*

Swatting at Caitlin's about as effective as using Ember on a Charizard, but Cait holds her hands aloft and backs up. She does move to the sink to damp a towel, and offers it to Misfit while the girl explains her circumstance. She frowns heavily. "I'm just glad you're OK. Toyman's a joke, but he does seem to come up with some dangerous contraptions," she agrees. She looks around at the question, then hikes a brow at Misfit.

"Lair? Do I look like I'd live in a lair? I'd hit my head on things. Bad guys know we're here, but they'd have to cross the river to get here— and we've got some pretty good surveillance systems."

"And you smell what /was/ pizza. I think there's some snackies in the fridge though. Are you hungry? I can make you something if you're starving," she tells Misfit, rising and washing her hands in the nearby kitchen sink. "Tuna melts?"

*

"Guess there's always next time. I mean, at least you probably stopped him from whatever he was doing this time, anyway."

Bart's glad he doesn't have to explain since Caitlin covers it, on top of the smell of now no longer existing pizza. "Sorry, pizza disappears pretty quick around here," he admits. Well, especially quick between himself and Caitlin.

"But yeah, it's…really not hard to miss the Tower if you're looking for it. The lab got blown up but um…I don't think that was exactly result of a direct attack." Still unsettling, and there's a gaping hole in the wall, cleverly camouflaged with colored webbing by one of their several resident spider peoples.

Bart knows he's not the one being asked about if he's hungry but his stomach answers anyway. Coughing awkwardly, he glances over at the remnants of the couch, running a hand through his hair. "Guess I'll try to get this cleaned up a little in the meantime?"

*

"Huh I figured most people had secret hide outs or underground lairs or stuff…." Misfit trails off and decides she better not talk about underground lairs very much longer. She heads to peer out a window. "Sunshine is novel though.. I like it. I swear Gotham doesn't get a lot of sunshine… or maybe it is the whole only patrol at night routine…" okay maybe she can't help herself. "I can go get some pizzas in a bouncccc…" she looks down at her bloody uniform "Maybe Tuna melts.. tuna melts sound great…."

Misfit walks into the kitchen "Do you have some papertowels or something I can clean up a bit more with so I don't get blood on anything?" keeping one eye on Bart. She figures he may speed clean and that would be absolutely sweeeet.

"So this is where Robin gets off too.. I can see why."

*

"Ahhp." Caitlin sticks a hand out, and stops Misfit by poking her index finger into the other heroine's forehead. "Not. In. My. Kitchen. There's a bathroom around the corner there, go clean up," she tells the other girl, in a surprisingly imperious tone of voice. "You go get clean, and by the time you're back, there'll be food."

She catches the rumble of Bart's belly, and lifts a brow at the debris in the living room. "I'll make extra, if you'll clean up the mess?" she inquires of her partner-in-hunger, reaching for a cookie sheet and the bread. "Just let Misfit eat first, she's probably starving." She sets about the task of cooking with brisk efficiency; Caitlin loves to eat, sure, but she does genuinely like making food as well.

*

"Why patrol only at night? I mean, I guess more things happen then, but stuff happens in the day too."

He's already gotten a broom from somewhere, twirling it around like a staff. Right, focus, Bart. "Sure, I can do that. But you're still telling Red Robin what happened," he says, grinning over at Caitlin before he zips to work. Cushions seem to magically stack themselves on the side, scattered bits and pieces otherwise gathered up in a pile that starts to disappear in increments as Bart bags up what he can and takes them down to the dumpster as he can.

*

"Oh. I think it has to do with scaring bad guys and also .. I mean during the day Gotham is pretty normal… at night wow… I mean sure sometimes we do missions in the day but patrols are night time… that is why I was in Metropolis looking for trouble this afternoon." well it is an answer and Misfit seems pretty excited to explain.

Yup Speed Cleaning "Coooool" slips out of Misfit's mouth before she eyes the door she is pointed at. "Actually maybe I should change out of this mess….Okay be right back." she vanishes in a cloud of pink and purple smoke.

*

By the time Misfit gets clean, Bart's had the training area clean for a while, and the tuna melts are almost done. Just as Misfit returns, Caitlin pulls two cookie trays from the oven and lays out a dozens slices of tuna-laden bread— with tomato slices and melted cheddar!— out on a serving tray, positioned so that the other two can sit at the raised counter that adjoins the kitchen and rec area. Caitlin swings a dishtowel at Bart the second he reaches for one. "Hey! They're hot. Slow down, okay? You'll burn yourself."

Disregarding her own advice, Caitlin reaches for a sliced tuna snack and takes a big bite, chewing hungrily despite the stack of empty pizza boxes not far away. She and Bart sure can put the food away.

*

Bart ow's, yanking his hand back, speaking more out of reflex than actually being hurt by Caitlin's defensive maneuver. He huffs as he flops onto a stool, dropping his chin into his palms before he's lifting his head again when Caitlin helps herself to the fresh-out-of-the-oven tuna melts.

"Heeey! What happened to slowing down?"

*

Misfit reappears right about time to see Bart get his hand swapped with a dish towel. "Right then." only it isn't really Misfit, she ditched the fragged uniform for a cleam pair of jeans, sneakers, and hoodie with Tracer on it from Overwatch. All things considering Charlie would make a really good Tracer.

"Okay those smell way better than pizza…. well better now than pizza…" she grins broadly and steps over to get one in her hands. "Thank youse" she says with a mouth full of a bite.

*

"I'm /literally/ fire proof, Bart," Caitlin reminds her teamwork. "I don't even mind spicy foods. No histamine reaction," she says smugly, eating around her meal.

"Hey, you look a little more human now," Caitlin tells Misfit. She almost intercedes, but— well, people who eat bubbling cheese need to learn their lesson, sometime.

"We've always got food," Caitlin assures Misfit. "Though we're gonna have to work a system out somehow if you're going to just keep popping on. T- Red Robin will blow a gasket if he thinks his security's been breached. He doesn't even like it when I switched from Tide to Gain."

"But, it's better though, right?" she asks Bart, around a mouthful of tuna melt. "Not as itchy?"

*

"Nothing smells better than pizza," Bart says, although he doesn't argue too strongly as he grabs one of the tuna melts. See, he managed to wait until Mistfit at least got one! Of course it results in him juggling it a bit between his hands as he blows on it to try cooling it at least a little.

"Ou fink if aw by kannaw-" he tries to explain…something, around a mouthful of cheese. Holding up a finger, he finishes chewing and swallowing before continuing. "If Red Rob's okay with it, he can get her scanned into the system and so if she does pop in like that, it won't trigger the alarms."

*

Charlie takes another bite of the sandwhich and looks between you both now. "I could probably add myself. I'm pretty familiar with the security system work Robin was trained in." okay she is impish in expression. "Though that would probably give him an seizure… I should probably just talk to him back home… wait is he like the team leader or something or just the security expert?" her brow furrows.

She carefully reaches to slide a sandwhich further from Bart while watching him eat the first one. "I'd love to hang out though… uh.. Batman doesn't really do much that is fun to be honest." Charlie shrugs.

*

Caitlin exchanges glances with Bart. "It's not so much that Robin's the team leader as that he's… well, I mean… he has all the security codes. And knows how our utilities are paid. And he built the system software."

She takes another bite of tuna melt. "Okay, I mean, I /guess/ he's team leader," she relents. "But if you know Robin, you know that he doesn't like people messing with his stuff. I think it's just as easy to ask permission, and then we don't run into the problems of him feeling like he needs to update the Tower security systems. Again. I can't come up with another password that isn't my last name, my dog's name, my birthdate, or my graduation date," she says, rolling her eyes.

*

And here's Bart already reaching for another tuna melt. "Yeah, I wouldn't mess with any of that," he agrees. Glancing back at Caitlin, he shrugs, stuffing half of his second helping into his mouth to chew as Caitlin does her best to explain.

"He's pretty much team leader. But I'd also call him the resident security expert. Sometimes fashion designer." He pops the rest of the tuna melt into his mouth as he reaches for a third.

*

Charlie manages to listen without interrupting. Which may be because she is trying to keep up with Bart so she gets a second sandwhich. "Oh trust me. I know how he is. He is nothing compared to the big man." she shakes her head. "I mean the amount of biometrics… also I think the bat computer may be an A&I… or he is trolling me…"

"So yeah I'll talk to him and not make him sad… he is nice." she shrugs "Wait… fashion designer?" Charlie's eyes go very big. Though she does snag that second sandwhich now.

*

Caitlin eyes Bart, who's well onto number five, and deliberately sliiiiides the cookie tray over in front of Misfit so it's not right in front of the ever-hungry speedster.

"Robin likes helping people come up with costumes," she clarifies. "I mean, I think he mostly likes the secret pockets and utility belt portion of it, and letting people play with his crazy bulletproof spandex. But maybe he's got a deep-down desire to be a costume designer?" she inquires, a brow hiking. "I guess I can't be too critical of him, he's pretty good at it."

She takes one more tuna melt for herself and gives another to Bart, and yawns before taking a bite. "But I think that's about it for me for the night. I gotta be at work tomorrow morning. I'll see you guys later, huh?" she offers, crunching into the snack.

*

There's a frown from said Speedster as the tray is moved away, but he takes the hint, pouting around a mouthful of whatever-number-melt he has in his mouth currently.

"Couldn't hurt to. I'll ask him if I see him before you do," Bart offers.

He nods a little as Caitlin explains about the fashion designing-costuming hobbies of the red wonder. Eh, tomato, tomahto. "He just likes figuring out where he can work in his gadgets. But yeah, he's really good. He helped Wonder Girl finally change her costume design. She was pretty happy with it." There's a bit of a bounce in his seat as Caitlin offers another melt to him.

"Oh, sure. G'night Cait."

*

Charlie gives Caitlin a thumbs up and and takes three cookies and then slides the tray over to Bart. She has gotten the idea. "Our armor and costumes are pretty cool and high tech. I'm still shocked the bear blew through the material… Batman is going to have fun analyzing that I bet. Also utility belts and gadgets are amazing… I don't have the patience to tinker like they do but I love using them. There is like a gadget for anything."

Charlie keeps talking enthused "Cool Wonder Girl.. I really want to meet her. Also good idea." the last to Bart's offer to talk to Tim. Though she is honestly going to message him on a batcom that she crashed his tower and appologize.

Charlie smiles to Caitlin "Thank you for cooking and not crushing me…."

*

"Wonder Girl is the best. You'll like her," Caitlin promises Misfit. She beams at Bart and reaches over to give his cheek a sisterly pat of affection. "Try not to burn the place down, huh?" she inquires, waving farewell. "Anytime you want a meal, there's always food in the fridge. Help yourself," she singsongs, disappearing into her own quarters.

She catches the door before it shuts. "Oh! Bart— there /is/ ice cream," she says, remembering his unanswered question. She smiles enthusiastically, waves at both, and turns in for the night.

*

"You gotta come for her Waffle Wednesdays. Err… Wonder Waffle Wednesday? I forget. Anyway, she got a waffle maker and makes piles of 'em." Which Bart tears through in a fraction of the time.

"Hey, I haven't burned anything down yet!" he protests, his grin faltering just slightly, but he waves back. And then he brightens at the mention of ice cream, pumping a fist into the air.

"So! Whaddya say about dessert?" he asks, beaming at Misfit then.

*

Charlie looks skeptical then down to her pile of three cookies. "I suppose we could combine ice cream and cookies and make a cookie sunday." she shakes her head amused "Which will be awesome.. lets do it." pause "Also is your metabolism like super fast like you are… I mean if I bounce around too much I get pretty hungry pretty fast.. especially when I heal bounce.. but you are a bottomless black hole of food." she hesitates "Is it okay to call you Bart?" yeah she caught that.

*

Snappointing at Misfit, Bart grins. "Now there's a plan!" he pipes, already hopping down from his stool to go grab the ice cream. "Oh, yeah. That's the way I'm wired, you know? Although I've heard stories about gra- err, the Flash's appetite." He shrugs, setting down the ice cream, which he's gathered between then, and returns shortly with a couple of bowls and spoons.

"Bart's fine. I mean." He looks down at himself. "Not exactly dressed as Impulse right now." He smiles crookedly. "Do I still call you Misfit? I mean, I get if you're all about the secret identity thing," he says, air quoting with his fingers.

*

"Eh I don't really have an identity that is a secret or not… it isn't like I go to school or have another job like Fairchild does." there is a grin and a shrug from Charlie. She reaches for a bowl and the ice cream and scoops herself out some then passes it back to Bart. "You can call me Charlie.. short for Charlotte but no one calls me that." she starts to break her cookies up over the ice cream. "I get secret identities though if you have a normal life to hide or people to protect. My family all died in a fire though so nothing but this now." there is a sad note but she seems to gloss over it all and keep trucking with ice cream.

*

"Charlotte, huh? Okay then, Charlie it is." Bart smiles as he moves to help himself to some ice cream, nodding a little before he slows to a pause at that. He resumes getting another scoop of ice cream to add to his bowl before putting a lid on the container.

"…sorry to hear about that," he says quietly. "Most of my family's not really around either. I never knew my dad. My mom's…kinda hard to reach. I live with my uncle Max- although I he's not so much my real uncle as my mentor. But…I guess we've gotten to be as good as family as anything now. I live with him and his daughter in Alabama." And makes daily trips to New York as only a Speedster can, apparently.

*

Charlie eats her cookie crumbled ice cream and listens to Bart talk about his family situation. It is definitely not the normal story either. "I think a lot of make the family we need and don't have families. At least in Gotham in my experience and now you." she shrugs "Robin and Batman and Spoiler and all are kind of family. Also living with Batman may be wierd but I think he cares a lot more than he lets on with his dark brooding nature…"

*

Bart nods around a mouthful of ice cream. "Heh, kinda hard to picture anyone living with Batman. But…I guess that's good. That he cares. I mean, you'd figure as much, right? He's took on so many of you. And anyway, any family's better than none."

*

There is a shrug "I said I think he cares. He is a very hard person to read. Lotso f lectures let me tell you." Charlie smiles though and keeps working on her ice cream. "Thanks for not letting Fairchild crush me and feeding me. This is nice."

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