June 02, 2018:
Misfit pops into Titan's tower looking for trouble… ur Robin
Titan Tower
The most awesome hero lair (well top 10)
Characters
NPCs: None.
Mentions: Batman red-robin raven impulse
Plot:
Mood Music: [*\# None.]
Fade In…
Sometimes - most times - Raven feels like she's better off alone. Away from people, she has a better sense of self. Her concentration can hone in on the tasks she takes on during these outings, sharper than it would be if she ever finds herself in the company of others bearing very different personalities. But as far as she can tell, there isn't anything too pressing going on from where she floats, drifting over buildings and across shadows on her lonely patrol of the city.
A consistent stream of popping does have a very distinct feeling to it, however, and she definitely can't ignore that.
Her gaze darts off from the path she's been taking, coming across the warehouse in the distance. "…There? Huh." She's suspicious of what may be going on, but she sighs, knowing that she's close to it. May as well get the drop on the action taking place, right?
So she flies, silent, swift, diving down to set foot atop of the roof. Maybe even sink past the solid physical barriers with the darkness to get a better look.
*
It seems like Misfit it struggling with the Man in Red and the various 'pets' he seems to have summoned. The young woman in an oddly off kilter bat girl costume appears with a flash of smoke by the hole she and the hellhound made in the side of the warehouse and throws a handful of pellets inside which explode filling the whole space with bat-tear-gas. Yes it is totes a thing.
Then she vanishes bouncing away in a pink and purple smoke clad teleport. <POP of Chaos Magic> .. .. only to reappear a split second later by the hellhound who was turning to see what was going on behind it. She claps her hands over it's eyes and there is a brilliant flash under her gloves as a small flash pellet goes off hopefully blinding the beast. Which starts to try to buck her off and she is riding a bucking hellhound looking conjuration. "Wooo… ack… crackers!"
Meanwhile a Man in a Red Suit and another of the hounds stumbles out of the warehouse, the man making a gesture which causes a rush of wind around him dispelling the tear gas, though he is coughing.
*
Well. That's different.
From the rafters, Raven perches, eyes narrowing at the sight of what was going on down below. Her brow arches a whole lot more when she sees the young woman trying to handle all of the chaos magic with an excess of tear gas and flash bombs.
And, thanks to her time spent with Red Sparrow, she suddenly gets a mild case of non-war flashbacks.
But now is not the time to wonder how many of these people use bombs of every kind. She should be helping. Like, right now.
Flexing her fingers, the goth raises her arms to summon the shadows, lips moving in silent encantation to send most of it toward the Man in Red as a means to barricade him in place. Another part of it slides over to where the beast is, attempting to wrap around its legs to keep it from flinging Misfit off.
*
The shadows do stop the Man in Red cold for a moment as they block his path and box him and his second hound in place. "What?!" the man says looking around at the darkness. That definitely doesn't seem to be Misfit's doing after all.
When the shadows wrap around the hellhound that Misfit is riding like a bucking bronco's feet it stops the bucking and Misfit loosens her grip. "Huh… " looking around wildly but then it seems like this is helping. So the young crime fighter takes the opportunity to vanish <pinkurple> which.. is another burst of Chaos Magic. Is the young woman the source, is that how she is teleporting? Maybe?"
Misfit reappears well up in the air and uses the exrta momentum of gravity to bring her armored boots down on the hound she was ridings head, it vanishes with a oily brimestone burst of actual smoke. "WOOT!" says Misfit
"Enough!" shouts the Man in the Red Suit. There is a burst of dark magic from behind the shadows and a blast of dark energy outwards as he tries to knock down Raven's spell.
*
"One down," Raven says to herself, feeling pretty proud of helping Misfit with the beast. Then she feels a little off because of that feeling. She shakes it off fairly quickly so that she can get back to focusing on the Man in the Red Suit.
Of course, her timing could have been off. As soon as she looks back at their main opponent for the evening, she's caught off-guard by the blast of energy. Wincing, Raven loses her balance and slips from the rafters, barely regaining her focus to keep herself afloat and from ending up a Raven pancake on the ground.
Her cloak spreads out around her as she keeps her arms up, eyeing the man as she calls back to Misfit, "I may be going out on a limb here, but are you two by any chance acquaintances?"
*
Misfit is checking the bottom of her boots trying to see if there is hellhound gore or just brimstone smoke around her. "I knocked him out ..with help.. last night and sent him to jail.. evidently they didn't read the memo though because he broke out tonight and came to get a lockbox of some sort he was after last night."
The Red Suit wearing gentleman rumages around in his pockets now and tosses out a bead that quickly grows and twists into a … woah is that some sort of Manticore? "Shut .. up… with the prattle!" then he makes a gesture and throws a fireball at Raven. The other hound seems to be missing, perhaps he sacrificed it to blow up the shadow barrier.
*
Despite her face being shadowed by her large hood, Raven's features somewhat flatten. "Of course he did."
She doesn't get a chance to say anything further when the Manticore bead is played. That, the fireball, and the combined force of the explosion on the shadow barrier, throw Raven back some distance. Her grip on the barrier dissipates just as easily, allowing freedom for both the Man in the Red Suit and the Manticore.
*
"Need to figure out how to make sure he stays in jail this time." Misfit complains and then vanishes with a flash of smoke and another pop of chaos magic. She appears behind the Man in the Red suit and kicks out at the back of his knees. Which well she was ready for his shield to prevent that. Maybe the energy of breaking Raven's spell made him drop his shield briefly but he goes tumbling forward hard now.
The Manticore meanwhile starts to stalk towards Raven, dangerous tail lashing.
*
Lying on the ground may sound like an exceptional idea after all that hard work, but there is still something to take care of. Like the Manticore, for instance. It looks about ready to throw down and throw down good.
Raven coughs as she pushes herself up from where she has landed, drawing in a sharp breath with every *pop* she hears and feels alongside the energies the Manticore is giving off. But now isn't the time to be overwhelmed by it. Drawing up a hand, she refocuses her powers, trying to beat the Manticore's speed with her casting.
Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…!
Blobs of darkness form, then shoot off at their target, trailing long, black tails after them. Each one falls in succession, one after the other like missiles fired off from a jet.
"Jail would be good," Raven says aloud to Misfit, her delayed response barely audible over the noise.
*
Misfit is blown backwards when the man shockwaves her with another hard blast of energy. "ACK…" and hits a wall with a thud. She vanishes fast though before she even slides down to the ground (another pop of chaos magic). Moments later she is landing o nthe Suit in Red's shoulders and punching down into his head "I'll take it .. under advisement…. first.." she is tossed off again vanishing this time now before she even lands (pop of chaos).
If nothing else well Misfit is distracting the Man in the Red Suit. Which is probably good.
The bolts of darkness slam into the Manticore like missiles, just as Raven intended and it does indeed turf the Manticore flattening it before it can sting Raven and it as well vanishes into a mist of brimstone.
Just leaving a distracted man in red.
*
As she rises, Raven flicks a portion of her loose, black hair back into the confines of her lopsided hood. "Good," she mutters, making sure there's nothing left of the Manticore she may have missed. Breathing in brimstone isn't great, but it's a sure sign it's not returning any time soon. "Now that that's over with…"
She drifts past the marks, floating inches off of the floor to see how Misfit is faring with the Red Suit. And she can plainly tell that he's being dealt with with all of the effort she can put into each strike. But Raven can't just ignore the fact that Misfit keeps vanishing and reappearing at random.
That will come later. First, keep this guy down.
With a flick of her wrist and dance-like composure, the darkness swells, bursting up in front of where the man stands as a means to uppercut him.
*
The Man in Red is very distracted there dealing with the chaos muppet Misfit. He just doesn't see it coming there when that black shadow fist upper cuts and knocks him out flat. Laying him out in a sprawl on the floor. Unconcious for the time being.
"Wow.. that was totally cool!" Misfit is shaking herself off from where she teleported after taht last blast from the Man in Red. She starts to walk over to the downed magic user looking him over skeptically "Thanks for all the help. I'm Misfit."
*
And just as quickly as it forms, the shadow fist sinks back into the ground, vanishing for good. Feeling the levels of emotional outbursts and mental gutpunches petering off, Raven breathes a sigh, allowing her shoulders to slacken as she drops her arms down to her sides. "He'll be fine," she tells herself as she stares at the unconscious form, tilting her head a few degrees the longer she does so. "…Maybe."
That doesn't stop a spike of an estatice emotional outburst from cropping the moment calm reenters the picture. Her mouth forms a thin line, but it parts as she turns to speak.
"Raven," the goth says quietly, her introduction brief. "He didn't make the fight very fair."
*
"I am not sure that any fight is actually fair. I mean. Especially bad guys. They always cheat or try to stack the deck you know?" Misfit considers "Okay that is an awesome code name…" before crouching down and starting to rummage.She removes his charm bead bracelet. Ruffles through his pockets liberating two necklaces that radiate magic. She seems to be piling it off away from him.
Then the efficiency of zipties and a gag and blind fold. Seems to be standard issue in her utility belt there. That may be enough to subdue him if he comes too and tries to get free. "Do you think they will listen to the note this time and not let him work magic?"
*
"…Well." Raven senses that her brand of sarcasm may have gone unnoticed. So she shrugs. "You're not wrong."
While she can also add that 'Misfit' works as a codename, she decides not to, opting to let her work while their attention is still on the man.
"Maybe?" she answers a moment after the question is asked, giving the girl a sidelong glance. "I think it depends on who finds him first."
*
When she is done Misfit stands up now and smiles to Raven. "I was going to probably call it into NYPD's metahuman response team. Do you think that is the right call?" she doesn't do most of her crime fighting here in NYC really.
When Misfit gets closer it is definitely where the chaos magic is coming from, but there was no spellcasting. It almost looked like she was teleporting with just an innate instinct and harnessing it. "So you do shadow stuff.. that looked really cool by the way." she seems chipper and friendly.
*
"To be honest? I'm not exactly sure." Metahuman response team? That's something she doesn't hear every day. "But if they deal with magic users, they may be a better call than the usual police units."
There isn't any denying that the popping chaos magic is just her imagination. It's still happening. Not only that, Misfit is cheerful. Not overtly cheerful and chipper, but it's very noticeable.
"Um. Thanks," is about all Raven can say at first because she's still not used to people leaving her with positive comments about her powers. Her averted gaze returns to Misfit shortly after that. "It's been a thing. Like your ability to teleport?"
*
The yougn woamn rubs the side of her face and then blinks behind those orange goggles. "I…well I don't know? I mean maybe sort of. I just.. think about it and my bouncing happens. It's a bit wonky but I've seen metahumans do wierder stuff." thing is, it definitely is not a metahuman thing. Maybe homo-magi. It's definitely chaos though and the young woman seems to have no idea what she is doing with it when she teleports.
Misfit offers her hand to Raven, maybe a fist bump, yeah it looks like a fist bump gesture. "So do your shadows like do all sorts of stuff beyond fists and tentacles to grab people?" she missed the whole wall of shadow. "Also is this your patrol beat.. maybe we could patrol sometime…" sort of a rambly muppet this one.
*
There's a soft snort. Maybe it is one of amusement, but she can sort of get what Misfit is saying. "Whatever it is, or whatever you call it…it just feels similar to magic. I would have gone with 'chaotic,' but I suppose 'wonky' can work." She shrugs. "You seem to have a good grip on it, however. Better handling and all."
It takes Raven a few seconds to understand what's going on with the extended fist toward her person. Once it dawns on her, she awkwardly makes a fist to lightly nudge the young woman's knuckles. Boom.
"I guess you can say that," Raven replies nonchalantly, her answer pretty noncommital at best. "This is a little outside of my zone, but…"
Augh, too many questions. Maybe it's time for her to vamoose.
"…Maybe. Maybe we can."
'Maybe' is probably the best she can do. It's not an outright 'no, impossible, forget it.' And there's no telling if she'll ever run into Misfit again, right?
*
What are the odds of running into a young woman who seems to have an innate use of chaos magic. Gee.
"That sounds good. I usually patrol Gotham but I've started branching out to shake things up some and fight more interesting villains." wierd girl is definitely wierd. "Magic. I.. isn't all magic like incantations and finger wiggling? I just.. want to be somewhere else and think about a person or a place and then bounce there."
Which. Honestly is kind of terrifying when you break it down. How does someone do that with chaos magic. It almost felt like with those POPs that she was convincing the universe she was somewhere else.
*
It's definitely not one in a million, that's for sure. Chaos magic is just a whole different beast, ending up where it's not supposed to and vice-versa. And it can be a headache to keep track of if someone tries hard enough.
Raven frowns, crossing her arms loosely over her chest. "Not…all of the time, no. Sometimes it isn't even necessary." From what she's seen, it can either be expertly cast or all for show. "Thinking about it takes concentration. Your style streamlines it."
"Anyway," she continues, shaking her head, "was the original plan to just leave the man alone? Or are we waiting for the response team to show up?"
*
Good point. Misfit checks her wrist display and eyes it. "They are a few minutes out. I figured I would wait here until they show and bounce out right before question time just to make sure he isn't playing possum this time." a bright smile.
"Is.. what you do magic then?" she furrows her brow and looks at the guy and the pile of loot nearby then back to you. "I… no one ever taught me to do what I do except Batman and Robin.. they helped with the fighting but not the teleporting you know." a shrug. "I'm just trying to do the best I can though and help people… you get that right. I mean if you patrol you are out here helping?"
*
"Ah." That about sums up her thoughts on Misfit's plan, nodding once.
Raven glances between the Red Suited man and Misfit, knowing that there's no way to lie about what she does. It's not like it's a big secret, but to explain everything would take time. Lots of time. "In a sense, it is. And despite how weird everything is, there aren't many who know about magic in this realm. Which is probably why you didn't have anyone to mentor you…"
She doesn't plan on staying. Misfit appears to be used to handling matters like this. But as she prepares to leave, she looks back at the young woman. "…Yeah, I do. And you're helping." A pause. "There needs to be more of that."
*
The young woman considers what Raven says about magic. "Interesting. I'll have to mention it to the Bat and see what he thinks." then Misfit lifts a gloved hand and waves "Catch you later Raven." she turns and walks back to the red suited man and carefully moves the magic talismans further away from him and adds an addendum to the call she sent in about picking this guy up. "Don't worry I'll keep helping. This is my job sorta." she grins and then goes back to work.
*
[Rachel Roth returns to OOC Land.]
*
It's coming into the weekend at the Tower, and it's a relatively relaxed Friday night for the Titans and their allies. Enough so that there are no immediate emergencies and no crisis callouts. So Caitlin's taking advantage of the relative lack of activity in the common area to watch TV. She sits on the sofa, one knee propped up in front of her and her other foot tucked under her hips. Wearing a light t-shirt and fuzzy pajama pants in soft pink, Cait definitely looks like she's off-duty for the evening. A bowl of popcorn is next to her and she's steadily eating through it with an absent pace, eyes glued to the reality show currently playing on screen.
*
Charlie is getting a little squinty at Tim. He has been avoiding her and her desire to meet up an chat. He is always busy with his team and she wants a piece of that action. Gotham Villains you know. Guh.
Anyhow best way to get his attention and maybe steal some of Bart's pizza is he is around is to just pop in right.
So she pops in, teleporting with a slash of pink and purple smoke and looks around. "Robin?" off to your left. Also it is amazing it takes the alarms many seconds to catch on there is an intruder. They seem to have trouble tracking her. "Ack…." alarm.. alarm.. alarm… alarm… "uh.. can someone turn that off?"
*
Caitlin starts violently at the *fwumph* of Misfit's arrival, shrieking in reflexive surprise. She at least doesn't upend her popcorn, and gives Misfit a sour look. "Misfit, we /have/ a door," she reminds the other heroine. Braced against the wail of the alarms, Caitlin keys in a code on a nearby panel and overrides the security system. "You can knock and I could, like, buzz you in."
She's irritated for about .5 seconds after the sound ends, and then is all smiles again. "You looking for Red Robin? I haven't seen him around, I think he's patrolling. Or whatever it is Batlings do when they have a Friday night off." She heads back to the sofa and tucks one leg underneath her before sitting again, knee propping up to balance her popcorn bowl on. "Wanna watch the last ten minutes of The Bachelorette?" she offers, as well as wiggling the bowl of popcorn at Charlie invitingly.
*
Misfit looks sour there as she looks around and then focuses in on the inviting wiggle of popcorn. "I was hoping to catch him yeah. He is probably patrolling.. or avoiding me like a twerp. I promised Batman I wouldn't just… you know teleport over to anyone unless they were in trouble. So you know.. no popping in. He may be on a date or something even….."
She peels her goggles up now and walks to the couch peeling her gloves off. "I'd love popcorn though and TV… not sure I've seen the Bachelorette… what is it?" she plops down tucking her gloves in her belt and unzippng her armored jacket.
*
"It's trash TV, and I love it," Caitlin tells Misfit, making room for the other heroine. "See, that's Becca. She's looking for a husband, and there were like… twenty guys at the start of the season. Now it's down to five, and the hope is that she finds someone special and they get married."
She pops corn into her mouth, and wrinkles the button of her nose. "I mean, it never works out that way and I know it's all staged reality nonsense, but it's still fun to watch and pretend all the drama's real."
She glances at Misfit. "You don't /really/ think Robin's on a date, do you? I didn't think they were even allowed to date."
*
Reaching over she steals a whole handful of popcorn and then snuggles into the couch cushion peering at the TV. "So it is like a dating game of some sort?" then she pauses and looks sidelong.
"By Them are you referring to Robin in a nonbinary fashion or do you mean batlings… because…. I think I am allowed to date if I meet someone I want to date… and I think Spoiler totes dates…. or if you mean Robin..well I think he is allowed to.. I mean I was mostly kidding." she trails off.
"I imagine if he was dating it would be like ninja level secrecy though… knowing him."
*
"I know Spoiler has, I… well, I guess I'unno. I just don't see Robin as being 'that person', y'know? Having fun. I don't think I've ever seen him out of uniform. He seems so… withdrawn, I guess?" Caitlin says, hesitating.
"Ehh. Anyway, what's new with you?" she inquires, muting the TV as commercials come on. "I would have figured you were out cracking skulls in Gotham. Nothing exciting happening in the city?"
*
"I've seen him out of uniform… I think I've even seen him and the old man smile… it is just super rare. It is like seriousness is a requirement." she smirks "Which may be why I am always in trouble you know." a light shrug from Charlie there. "Honestly it is probably something about tragedy. If I think about my mom and brother sure I can get very withdrawn.. but… I just try not too because I'd rather focus on helping people."
Charloe seques into your question about new. "I have been, a lot. Also New York and Metropolis. I met Raven. She is cool." light shrug. "But .. yeah I get bored easy. Usually play video games when bored but it was super quiet tonight. Three muggings.. one burglar and then figured I'd pop by and see who was home."
*
"It's just me, I think," Caitlin says, arching her neck to look around. "I haven't seen Bart all day, and Cassie's busy, and… Raven /might/ be here, but I don't knock on her door unless it's an emergency," she says, wryly. "Anyway, I felt like staying in tonight," she explains to Misfit. "I'm thinking about applying for a new job somewhere. Karen's been great but I kinda feel like I should take my PE exams and get certified, y'know? Start building stuff again instead of being in adminstration," she explains.
"You should text me next time you're in Metropolis during the day, we can get lunch or something. I'm not far from the bay, it's a ten minute subway trip to almost anywhere."
*
"That sounds fun. I don't really have any.. friends..other than you and Bart really. Also I totally get that vibe from Raven." she shakes her head. "I should definitely try to talk to her again sometime though. She called my bouncing magic… and I want to know more."
Meanwhile she steals more popcorn. "So lunch sounds good. Thing is.. if you text me when you want to get lunch I can be there in a blink to meet you."
*
Caitlin stares at Misfit. "Y'know, I don't know /why/ that never occurs to me," she admits a beat later. "I'm so used to walking everywhere that I forget you can just—" she snaps her fingers, hand describing an arc overhead. "I'm kinda jelly. I spend a fortune on taxis, thank goodness Karen gave me a corporate card," she says. "I /really/ need to get a new car one of these days," she mutters.
"Okay, so, lunch this week," she declares, smiling brilliantly at Charlie. "There's a really good Chinese buffet down the street from the labs. They're super sweet and don't mind me loading up a couple of trays at a time. Howzat sound?"
*
There is a laugh. "it .. well yes it is super conventient and I don't spend money on taxis or anything. You still need somewhere to go though to make it really interesting." she pauses "I wish I could take people with me because exploring foreign countries would be more fun if I could."
"That sounds excellent. I love buffets." she isn't Bart ravenous but she is ravenous. Charlie inquires "Who is Karen and what is it you do in a lab?"
*
"My boss, Karen Starr?" Caitlin tells Charlie. "She owns Starr Labs. She hired me on last year after my gig with the Baxter Institute closed out. I was on the fabrication teams for a while, then I got my own project to supervise, then Karen brought me on as … sort of an executive assistant, 'cause I could handle a lot of day to day management stuff with the engineers."
She shrugs her shoulders lopsidedly. "Y'know— computer circuit boards, chipsets, electronics, machine tools. It's a pretty diverse company really, they're small enough to be super mobile in the markets."
*
"Okay… Starr Labs I have heard of but I admit I do not know anything about that sort of stuff. I mean TV and books and all but I didn't take anything past High School courses in….well anything." Charlie grins. "So when you said PE you meant engineer not like gym teacher?"
*
"Oh, yeah— sorry," Caitlin apologizes, chagrined. "I mean, I've got my BS— bachelor's of science— in Electrical Engineering. And I was in grad school before THINK recruited me," she clarifies. "So I've got enough experience in the field that I could sit for the exams. It's… kind of like a doctorate for engineers?" she hazards. "Or a bar exam for lawyers, that's probably a better way to put it. I can call myself an engineer in professional capacities. Helps build a lot of credibility at trade conferences. Last time I was at the Stark Expo, people kept asking me if I was available to be a booth girl at the next convention," she mutters.
*
"People suck." narrowed eyes. "I could probably go to college. I'm sure the old man would pay for it…. but this kind of is my job. Crime fighting. I don't even know what I would do … what degree even…" she frowns. "I think you should get your doctorate in engineering though and when they are like.. hey Booth Girl.. be like.. Dr. Booth Girl." okay Charlie is totally teasing you.
*
Caitlin 'thbbbbts' at Charlie's suggestion, then laughs. "I hadn't even /thought/ about a doctoral program," Caitlin admits. "I guess robotics, maybe? That's where most of my background is already, professionally. And I've got a couple of patents that'd make good thesis subjects."
She rests her elbow on the sofaback, propping the heel of her palm to her temple to look at Charlie curiously. "There are a lot of options out there," she remarks. "Criminal Justice is a great one— even if you don't apply the theory of law, there's a lot of elements about pattern recognition and psychosocial analysis. Or go into psychology, get a real handle on the criminal mind. I mean— if you weren't doing" she gestures vaguely at Misfit and the Tower "this, what /would/ you do?"
*
Charlie considers "Well … we were really poor. I was probably destined to work at Big Belly burgers or something. College when I was in High School was out of the question. My mom also hated my powers so I had promised her not to use them…. " she frowns "I didn't really even practice until after the fire when she told me to teleport to safety." okay sad alerts.
"So.. yeah.. anyhow.. if it wasn't for Batman it wouldn't even be an option. Also crime fighting is.. well I'm good at it I think. As for school. I liked reading and video games. I'm not horrible on computers.. maybe I could make video games."
*
Caitlin smiles encouragingly. "Game design isn't really all that hard. There are some super powerful tools out there to do it," she tells Misfit. "A lot of games are built with modders in mind. Maybe give modding a try, y'know?" she inquires. "You don't need to know microprocessor code to make a good mod— just some basic language skills and a bit of math. If you want to give it a try, lemme know. I can totally point you at some great modders."
The TV flickers and she glances at it. "Ooh! This is the big reveal for the evening, they're kicking off one of the last contestants," she says, removing the mute on the TV. "Wanna finish the episode with me?"
*
Charlie is considering it now as she listens. "I install a lot of mods… I .. should look into that." she nods. Then the attention shifts back to the TV and she twists around to look to it. "yah… what is she going to do….." grabbbing more popcorn as she settles in to watch the rest of the show.