4530/Red X: The Third Pair

Red X: The Third Pair
Date of Scene:	29 May 2018
Location:	Crime Lab, Titans Tower (TBD)
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Robin (Wayne), Breath, Stardust, 87, Brick

---

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     After a short respite from his work, provided by Vorpal on a lovely island. Until he was left there, albeit for a moment.

  Soon after they came back, and Damian was able to put his uniform back on, every little armor piece back where it was supposed to be, that he was able to finish decrypting it and cleaning it for malware.

  "Titans, Robin, I've finished decrypting the latest disc. Report to the lab." He waits patiently for the others who are able to show.

Breath has posed:
Breath comes flying into the hangar at speed, having been alerted from someplace else, then races over at a full out run and comes skidding over to the door. News!

She pauses and straightens her hair, checks her makeup, then opens the door and walks in, quite a bit more nonchalant. "Hey Robin! I'm here. What've you found out so far?"

Stardust has posed:
The message reaches Colette in the Danger Room. Where else. The Rise of the Holograms in the form of a rogue Red-X AI had given her a chance to try out one or two of the little system tweaks and tricks she'd been experimenting with, but also ideas for a few more. It's like a game, she reasons. If you want to get the best out of it, you study the glitches and hacks, and think about how you can abuse them even more. Well, she does anyway. Though she acted as a spectator in that fight, she was actually thinking about problems and solutions. Suppose the AI had tried to interfere with the system, for example? And is that possibility something she can use? Quite why she's so interested in besting the holoprojectors is another question, but she does seem determined.

With a sigh, Colette starts the process of shutting things down and backing things up, as she responds to Damian's message with a "Be right there." A few extra keystrokes delete the application history. She doesn't want other people to see what she's been doing, apparently.

Red X does have access to the Tower Systems, after all. She's quite convinced of that.

Not long after Breath's arrival, Colette walks in through the door, greets the pair of them with a nod of her head and takes up position leaning against a wall. "So? Did he call us lackeys?" she asks.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"My money is on winners," the Cheshire cat says, appearing from rift in reality. He's clearly damp and had been caught in the middle of drying out his fur. It's the reason why he's not in uniform but in a pair of bike shorts, with a white towel draped around his shoulders. "That dip in the ocean inpired your cracking muse, didn't it, Angry Bird?" he says, smirking and reaching up to dry his hair.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian turns around in the chair, looking at the door and those who come in. "I haven't played it yet. Waiting on the others. But this one...was tough."

  As the others come in, Damian acknowledges them. "Nothing yet. I was waiting for the others to start. But the water, made me think of another way to attack the malicious code."

  The desk at the crime lab was littered with empty coffee and tea cups, and half eaten sandwiches. The edge of the desk contains a box of cookies sent over from Alfred, reminding him to sleep and take care of himself. Seems Batman may also have a penchant for getting lost in his work.

Breath has posed:
Breath awwws.. "Did you get ANY sleep? Because like, I do my best work after I wake up." Her heart goes out to Robin for how hard he was working on all this shut up shut up he's like fourteen or something. Bad Lyssa. Down.

"So, um, cool. I'm guessing there is NO way I am even gonna understand this explanation because like, it's not my thing, but awesome. Is she like, getting the nasty stuff from somebody else? He? They?"

Stardust has posed:
Colette acknowledges the wet cat with a nod and a distinct lack of cats and water jokes. "You saw the note, Vorp. 'Winners' was an error. The real answer was 'lackeys'. You threw Robin into the ocean? Nice work." She turns to Damian with a grin. "Now we know. Being dropped in the ocean gets your brain juices flowing when it comes to solving difficult puzzles. I will remember that in future."

"He, Breathy." Colette doesn't seem in any rush to explain her certainty, but she does sound pretty certain.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Any excuse to throw Damian in the ocean is good for me. This is how traditions start," Vorpal quips, drying his hair some more, and nods at Breath in greeting when she enters. "So are we going to tell them about who you think is behind all this, Robin?"

Vorpal already knows. Na na na na nya nyaaa.

Brick has posed:
The earth-shattering BOOM is more of a FWOOP as Brick Marsten appears, almost silently, but then there's no boom tube involved. It's more of a Fwoop Door, right? It goes to and from a fixed point and has a range, and Maire Boit says it's almost safe for passengers. Almost.

"Hello, Titans. Vorpal, you smell like a wet cat."

He tosses a hydrophilic towel at the cat-guy. Cotton with ultra-microfibers and a slight electric charge. Sucks up water like a camel.

"Who are the lackeys again? Aren't those the orange synthetic guys who work for Despised Melvin?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian turns back around and starts to pull up the video file. "I get sleep. Two hours a day." Yes, he said day, bats are nocturnal after all. "Have a cookie, they're too sweet for me." The cookies weren't too sweet by normal people's tastebuds, but to Robin, the kid raised by a league of Assassins and ninjas, even orange juice was too sweet. "Here it goes."

  Red X appears on the viewscreen. "Congratulations, you were able to figure out my puzzles, winners." Not just the cryptex, but the encryption and the malware. His message was plain and simple. "The next challenge will be Breath. An unknown in this equation. The venue is Gotham Stadium, former home of the Gotham Knights. From what I can tell, you're the most untested of the Titans. What makes you think you can be a hero? Is it vanity? Is it a maligned sense of self worth?" Red X puts his boots in front of the table he sits at. "Are you strong enough? Tough enough? Only time will tell."

  Red X straightens up, slamming a fist down on the desk. "Star." A moment. "Dust. The constant thorn in my side. The oh so diligent detective, your time has come. I would say this was a test, but we both know we are just...ITCHING for this fight. So get ready. I've chosen a very special place for us to meet. And just for shits and giggles. Robin, have you seen your companion lately?" A snap of the finger, and a picture of Goliath appears in the foreground.

  "Take it from me, it misses you dearly." A sinister laugh is given, before Red X stands, leaning into the camera. "Consider it an insurance policy. NO INTERFERENCE, or the consequences will be dire."

  The video goes dark, end of line.

  After the video, Robin keeps staring at the wall sized-screen, at the area where Goliath's picture was at. His eyes were wider than ever, his breathing uneven. He grasps at his chest, looking for that skull whistle he usually kept around it. When he finds it wasn't there, he starts to panic, looking all around the desk. "Where is it...WHERE IS IT!?!" He's frantically searching now, looking below the desk, and all around. "WHERE THE FUCK IS HIS WHISTLE!?" He's on his knees now, his hood had raised itself in all the motion he made, he was even searching his utility belt, down to the last pouch case. Every gadget that fit in there now out, almost didn't seem like it would all fit in his belt, but for sure it did. Still nothing, at this point he's got tears running down past the all white lenses of his mask.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Well, we sure can't interfere now," Vorpal says, a hand on Damian's shoulder. "Calm down. The jerk won't hurt Goliath unless we interfere. They know that if they hurt Goliath we'll sic Raven on them to devour their soul." It's his best attempt to reassure Robin. "We just have to play this jerk's game until we can find the best way to cheat that won't cause Goliath to get hurt. Right?" He gives the other Titans a 'help me' look. Obviously the sight of a discombobulated Damian was not something he was expecting.

Breath has posed:
Breath blinks in alarm at Robin freaking out, and immediately rushes over to offer a shoulder. "Holy shit. We're here, Robin." She gently reaches out to rub his other shoulder, concerned. She bites her lip, because her first thought on that message was going to sound pretty heartless.. and given the situation at hand, would be incredibly callous.

She isn't sure what Robin is going to do, but tries to make sure she's ready to be mothery/sistery/whatever and comforting for anything up to and including clinging and ugly sobbing. She bites her lip a bit. She can simmer on that message after this emergency.

Brick has posed:
That red thing. That's Damien's pet giant-bat-monster cryptid thing. And Breath, you can be a hero, just do the right things at the right time. Like anyone else. What is this Red X and ... Wait. My thoughts are being narrated out loud.

"Maire Boit. If you could please turn off the subtitler, I'm certain my friends will be a lot more comfortable NOT hearing my every thought," Brick says in a flat conversational tone.

*ping* Maire Boit says, in an embarrassed shade of pink sound.

"It's for my videos. Shush," Brick says to the Titans.

Stardust has posed:
Colette looks at Brick with a long-suffering expression. "I went to all that effort to not say that, and you go and say it. Sometimes I wonder why I bother. We are, Brick. We're the lackeys. "

"It's a good tradition," Colette agrees. "I wholeheartedly agree, Vorp. I'd like to hear Damian's theory too. I hope it's better than his last one. What say if this one is wrong too, we throw Damian into the ocean? Seems fair, right?" Damian gets a wink as she says this.

And then the video.

Colette watches, arms still crossed. Her only reaction during the play through is a faint twitch of her lips at the pause in her name, as if she's fighting back a smile. When the film ends, she steps past Damian to get to the controls, and replays the end of the video, freezing the frame on the picture of Goliath, which she studies for a few moments looking to see if there's any indication or background clues to where the image was taken. Then she walks back and resumes her position leaning against the wall, with her arms crossed. "Hmm. Interesting. Not what I was expecting. Wrong robbery, but it still fits the pattern, in a way." She seems to be talking to herself. "I guess Rayner can delete that text, though. Pity, that would have been fun."

Finally Colette seems to notice Damian's distress, and the many attempts to pat his shoulders. Damian may have to grow a bit before he has enough shoulder for everyone. "Don't panic, Robin. He'll be fine," she says. "He won't be hurt."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian removes his mask so that he can wipe his eyes. "I swear, I'm going to evicerate him, pull out his heart and fucking show it to him as it still beats." The shoulder holding is normally a little much for Damian, even if his first instinct was to grab wrists and throw them off, he doesn't do that for now.

  He starts to gather his tools, every birdarang, grapnel, grapple gun, smoke pellet, flashbang, caltrop, and gizmo.

Brick has posed:
Brick foregoes the tactile feedback, suspecting Damian does not need hugs or pats or fluffings of his hair by gropey people, mostly because Damian's past responses to being hair-fluffed has been to attenpt a stab.. but surprisingly the knives don't appear.

"Do you need any custom gear, Damian? I can fab it fast. Just message me via Maire Boit and we'll have it ready within 5 minutes."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal nods to Brick's suggestions, and then adds "Yes, you can cleave their hearts out and feed it to their best friend, but maybe right now you just need to rest for an hour or so. You know, while we process and Breath and Stardust prep? You've done your thing, now it's their turn. We can tell them about Jason Todd in an hour or so."

Breath has posed:
Breath stands quietly next to Damian and watches him do his packing ritual, trying to be available and quietly reassuring, but not having a damned clue how to help him. She stays silent for the moment because really.. what should she say? Priority right now is to help Robin. She smiles and nods in agreement to Vorpal. "Yeah. Like.. We can totally reconvene after you have had time to plan how to wreck his face or whatever and you're feeling more like yourself."

Stardust has posed:
"Look out folks, Robin's gathering his gizmos." Colette watches his frantic gathering for a few moments, then adds "ALL the gizmos. That's bad. As I recall, it goes 'Robin gathering all his gizmos', then 'trumpets', then 'horsemen'. Bad times. DAMIAN!"

The rise in her voice is quite sudden. "Where are you going? I mean once you've gathered all your gizmos. What's the plan? Just to run out and check under every sofa you can find? Or maybe there's something more you have in mind. Maybe you should share. Team, and all that. Where is Goliath? Is he on that island? How's he being kept under control? Why is X-face not batfood? Think! Stab people in the face second, think first. "

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The picture of Goliath seems to just be of the red bat dragon flying over Gotham. Nothing specific on where the beast is. "Goliath is an organic creature, not magic or tech based. He's tough but he can be tranquilized or shot. I normally let him roam around, and call him when I need him. He stays around the coast, around where the bat-boat launches." Once he gets all of his wares back in the belt, he stands. "I need to check my room, then the Batcave, and my room at home. Those are the only places it could be."

  "Without the whistle, I can't call Goliath, and I can't verify if Red X is bluffing or if he really has my best friend. If X has him, he must be keeping Goliath sedated somehow. Or restrained, either way, he has to keep Goliath like that or else he would be bat food."

Brick has posed:
"In case the whistle isn't where you want to check ... I can try to synthesize one if you tell me the frequencies."

Yes, because everyone records the frequncies of their personal summoning devices, as a backup. Well. Probably mostly Brick does that.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Brick. That's..." the Cheshire cat begins to say something, and then he just walks over to his team-mate and drapes an arm around his shoulders. "That's a nice thought, but not everybody measures everything." He pauses. "Even Damian."

He may sound in doubt right about now. "Damian, go search... and at least take an hour nap. You won't do Goliath any good if you're sleep deprived."

Breath has posed:
Breath nods. "Okay. After checking, check in. No doing anything else without updates. It would totally be a trap."

She frowns and thinks a moment. "Okay, everybody else? This sounds like, so totally heartless but like.. what's my motivation here? Are we seriously walking into a fight for face? Are we like, having to apologize to somebody else? Because I would totally throw myself at somebody's feet to apologize for a damn widget."

"I mean, come on. X wants to know why the hell I am heroing. I KNOW why I am. Am I having to walk into a stupid gladiator match for funsies? Because that's totally not it. I mean, seriously." She sneers and mimics the X, "Arre yoo STRONG enuff? Are yoo TOUGH enough?"

She rolls her eyes so, so hard. "Do you know how much I hated listening to my DAD saying crap like that? I'm a *girl*. I don't give two shits about about proving I'm strong and tough. I care about PEOPLE. So like, is he just an idiot that doesn't pay attention to people? Or is there something I'm missing here?"

Stardust has posed:
"Unless, Damian, Red X is someone that Goliath knows." Colette lets that sit there for a few moments.

"This whistle?" Colette shrugs her shoulders. "Is gone. Don't bother looking. It's not a random coincidence that you've mislaid it. Make a new one. You must know the frequency? If not, well ask your father. I very much doubt he'd overlook a detail like that, hmm? Risk his son losing the one and only batwhistle? There's no need to panic. Not that you'd panic, of course."

"Yeah, you're missing something here," Colette tells Breath. "I keep saying this, but nobody's listening. He's not trying to test if you're a hero. He's trying to test if you're a useful lackey. So yeah, you could always be un-lackey-ish and not show up. But that's why he gives us the whole 'show up or the Atlantean-whatsit-slash-bank-loot-slash-Themysciran-I mean bat-gets it' deal. To give us a reason to show up."

Brick has posed:
"You're such a cynic, Covalent," Brick says. "It's a good instinct, I'm told."

*PINGpingPing*

"See? You're also making some interesting conjectures and then acting as if they're necessarily true, which I cannot support as a workable practice. Conjecture and TEST, that's how science works, and there's an evidential aspect of it as well. Damian's right, he needs to see if he's simply mislaid it, or if his whistle has been taken, because if it was taken then it says things about what Racer-X did or did not do with Goliath."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Um, we do try to be heroes. And the psycho has already comitted several crimes. Even if it is part of his insane little mind games, we have to attempt to stop these crimes to the best of our ability because they are harm being perpetrated upon civilians and their property whether we show up or not. And then our other priority is hopefully trying to stop him or force him to show his hand. I am not entirely sure where the whole 'are girls tough' is coming from, since he mocked and taunted me as much as he's taunted you. And I walked in all cock-sure and got my ass handed to me."

The Cheshire cat crosses his arms. "Do you think that if the Joker said he was going to poison the reservoir, Batman would go 'Hard pass, nope?' I don't think he would... He'd go there to try to stop it. Aware that he's stepping into a trap? Likely. But he'd prepare. And I don't think for a moment that Wonder Woman wouldn't step up to the plate, because she's the most awesome superhero that has ever been."

He looks towards the door through which Damian left, and adds "And don't say that to Damian, because otherwise he'll argue with me into the night as to why Batman is better."

Breath has posed:
Breath sighs. "You're like, proving my point. He's a guy, he can't bully for shit. 'Ooh, so weak!' F**er, I shoot myself full of estrogen that I know damn well drops my strength about fifteen percent twice a week. I HATE listening to guys do all their chest thumping garbage. Hell yeah, you want to say I'm weak, you go ahead and say it. I don't care. I've got people to help. Like.. IS he poisoning the damn reservoir? Or is he just annoying an insurance company's rich investors? There's a goddamn difference."

She sighs. "I mean, COME on. He SPECIFICALLY SAID that. If he's asking a question, he expects a damn answer. So like either he's just stupid, or we are missing something here!"

Stardust has posed:
Colette gives Breath a long stare. "So what you're saying, in conclusion, is that the guy who's entire approach here is to try to hit our weak spots, has hit your weak spot. Which happens to be the whole thing about being challenged by guys. Who might think you are weak. Which, you know, is probably why he said the whole thing about are you strong enough. Because weak spot. You got asked if you're strong or not. I didn't. Despite, you know, last time I checked anyway, I'm a girl. So no, instead he tried to look for a different weak spot with me. Pride. That 'constant thorn' thing? He thinks I'm taking this as a personal challenge, me against him. He's playing on that to try to manipulate me, just like he's playing on you."

Colette looks around the room, gesturing wide. "Everyone else gets this, right? It's not just me? Please say it's not just me."

Back to Breath, Colette arches an eyebrow and crosses her arms again. "But I get it. You don't like Goliath, so why should you fight? Sure, why not. This isn't fight club. On the other hand, it kinda is fight badguys club. Plus, Goliath is cool."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal lets Colette speak her mind, and then he steps in, tagging something BReath said that obviously bothered him. "There isn't a difference, Breath. The Titans don't make distinctions when it comes to people who are being wronged. I don't care if it's a defenseless bag lady or Bruce Wayne, neither gets to be mugged, robbed or assaulted and have us run some sort of equation to see if their loss merits intervention. The actual nature of the crime isn't important- all it matters is that a crime is attempted, and we aim to stop them from happening so we don't have to decide later on which one was worse. So we go after the Joker poisoning the harbor, and we go after bank robbers and cat thieves stealing jewelry. And alien invasons."

He gingerly puts his hand on the table, narrowing his eyes. "I am going to go now and search for Goliath. I will leave you be so you can pump your chest all you want about how boys do this or that and how you are better." He pushes off from the table and walks towards the door.

"But I will say one thing..." he stops at the door and turns around.

"If you are implying that some people don't deserve your help when they are wronged, then I don't know what to tell you. We help people by virtue of the fact that they are people, not by how little or how much is in their bank accounts."

He gives a brisk nods at Stardust as a farewell and heads towards the door, stops himself, and realizes a Rabbit Hole will get him to the bay faster. He opens the Rabbit Hole and steps out.

Breath has posed:
Breath sighs heavily. "Taunts are supposed to get you riled up and charging in. Not to make you roll your eyes and say 'So what?' So maybe I am a little worried when the guy throws a taunt that doesn't seem like a taunt, okay?"

She starts walking off. "Also? I'm not a mercenary. I don't jump into hamburger grinders so somebody will be able to get their tenth yacht in time for Halloween. Way too busy trying to keep people I know, you know.. ALIVE and UNTORTURED. If y'all were expecting a mercenary, let me know. I'll get out of your hair." Exit stage left.

Stardust has posed:
Colette says, "Gotcha," Colette says to Breath with a thumbs up. "You're not wound up at all. I can tell. Mercenaries get paid. That's kind of their thing. But cool, whatever." She turns her head to Vorpal, to get a word in before he exits the door, only to find him exiting a rabbit hole instead. "Kittycat! Wait! There's something I wanted to..."

Her last words are lost as she leaps quickly through the rabbit hole, not bothering to pay attention to where she's about to end up. She does, after all, have something she wanted to ask the cat. But aren't you supposed to be chasing rabbits, not cats? Does Vorpal even own a pocket watch?"

4530/Red X: The Third Pair
Date of Cutscene:	29 May 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Robin (Wayne)

---

Red X appears on the viewscreen. "Congratulations, you were able to figure out my puzzles, winners." Not just the cryptex, but the encryption and the malware. His message was plain and simple. "The next challenge will be Breath. An unknown in this equation. The venue is Gotham Stadium, former home of the Gotham Knights. From what I can tell, you're the most untested of the Titans. What makes you think you can be a hero? Is it vanity? Is it a maligned sense of self worth?" Red X puts his boots in front of the table he sits at. "Are you strong enough? Tough enough? Only time will tell."

Red X straightens up, slamming a fist down on the desk. "Star." A moment. "Dust. The constant thorn in my side. The oh so diligent detective, your time has come. I would say this was a test, but we both know we are just...ITCHING for this fight. So get ready. I've chosen a very special place for us to meet. And just for shits and giggles. Robin, have you seen your companion lately?" A snap of the finger, and a picture of Goliath appears in the foreground.

"Take it from me, it misses you dearly." A sinister laugh is given, before Red X stands, leaning into the camera. "Consider it an insurance policy. NO INTERFERENCE, or the consequences will be dire."

The video goes dark, end of line.