2019/TITANS: Stealthy Is Our Middle Name

TITANS: Stealthy Is Our Middle Name
Date of Scene:	16 August 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Our first name is 'Not.'
Cast of Characters:	Robin (Wayne), 87, Beast Boy, Stardust

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Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Dusk in Gotham, there was a distinct aura to things around the sity once the sun set. The change was like something out of Jekyll and Hyde, once there were bustling businessmen and blue collar workers, then there were miscreants and thugs all about. After he had been brought into the Titans, Robin had set to work on any open cases. Once the Boy Wonder had deduced where missing children were being shipped out of, and that it was in Gotham proper, he called his new teammates to join him at the China Basin Docks. This was to be a reconnaisance mission, needing to get in and get out with as much intel as possible.

  Robin gave distinct coordinates for the others to meet up at, an alleyway near the docks. Since he was based out of Gotham anyway it was much easier for him to use the resources in the Batcave than it was to ride out to Titans tower proper.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Cheshire Cat is, fortunately, one of the team's teleporter when Raven isn't available. The alleyway is just a thought away, his accuracy increased after receiving a good googlemaps image of it. For this particular mission. There is a moment of tension in the air, and then reality decides to give up. The Rabbit Hole opens, an offensive tear in the fabric of spacetime (and common decency), showing the Titan Tower's Operation room. Vorpal steps through and lands in the alley, closing it behind him.

He looks around and reaches for the communicator, tapping it and whispering into it. "Vorpal, in place."

Beast Boy has posed:
"Beast Boy in place," says the green field mouse nestled pleasantly in the red-orange locks on the top of Vorpal's head. Of coruse, since it's night and since it's Gotham, Garfield shifts himself to a small kitten. Because cat's have MUCH beeter night vision than mice do.

"What's the plan? Trex?"

Stardust has posed:
Dusk, miscreants and thugs. Such is the perfect setting for dubious learner superheroes to roam. Thugs to beat up. Miscreants to admonish. And dusk, so hopefully people won't notice if you screw up. This, at least, is the logic that Colette is going by tonight, as she wanders through the docks at rooftop height, dressed innocuously in civilian clothes, but somewhat less innocuously making short flights from rooftop to rooftop as she moves around.

Colette spies out the streets and alleys from on high, as plots, shady deals and meetings go on below, often unnoticed. Next time she'll get night vision goggles. That would be good. However she stops from time to time to watch as small, dubious looking groups gather. Inevitably they turn out to be booo-ring! People standing around discussing the football, participating in petty crimes like a bit of street dealing that she can't really be bothered with, and so on. But then... jackpot. Deranged orange cat guy with the crazy illusions has shown up, with some equally deranged-looking companions. Something interesting must be up there.

  As Colette steps up to the edge of the building, her clothes change from the inconspicuous civilian garb to a shimmery, sparkly, grey-white superhero type costume. Not the one she was wearing last time she met Vorpal no cape this time, hurrah. It's also quite a different cut, following the swimsuit-style trend followed by some of the more show-offy of super-heroines. She glances down at herself, rolls her eyes, and takes another step forwards. Then comes to a sudden halt, reaches around behind herself, feels about, and hisses "No ****ing way. Something else. Or I'm going home." The shimmer shimmers and the sparkles sparkle, and her costume grows to calf-length. "Better," she mutters, before dropping off the edge of the roof.

  Floating down to greet the three gathered Titans, she comes to a half a few feet in front of them and a few feet off the ground. "Well well, the Rick-rolling cat. With friends." She nods her head to Beast Boy and Damian. "Hello again. Any weird egg-headed half-robot guys you need hitting today?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The alley was sparsely lit, which was an advantage they used well, no peering eyes could see from the street, but from above, as Colette had seen, there was a gathering. Behind the two Titans, from a high vantage point, Robin had inverted himself using his grapnel. He'd been watching from the rooftop, but he'd been preparing for their incursion. "Robin, in place." He simply says. Before he looks at the three gathered heroes.

  Robin gave Colette a nod back, still inverted. "I tracked down the shipments to this location. I doubt this is their holding area, too conspicuous. But inside should have some information we can use to further the investigation."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Well, hey there, stranger," the cat smirks at the woman he remembears from the Modork incursion, "We're here to dispense some justice and look up some clues. And I'm all out of bubblegum." He pauses. Something about that phrase doesn't sound right. He shrugs. "Wanna join? We're hunting kidnappers!"

He stops and pays attention to Robin, and nods. "Roger, Robs." He reaches out and pets Gar. "You know the drill, give us some scouting ahead and don't get caught, okay?" The cat looks at Robin and Colette. "We're aiming for the docks, right? We'll probably want to roofhop over there. I could do do the ground approach while invisible, but it's probably better to do like the bats and go for the high vantage point. Right?" he grins at Colette and then, unless Robin has other plans, he'll scramble up onto the roof to follow when the Robin takes oint.

Beast Boy has posed:
There's a happy purr from the green feline in vorpal's arms before he leaps clear and onto the street.

"Scout a head, don't get caught. And if I do, try not to shift into a one eyed one armed flying purple-people eater," states beast Boy before he's off with a happy flick of his tail. Just your average nondescript not at all super no need to pay any attention to him green alley cat. He sprints his way toward the building Robin was talking about, slowing down to slip from shadow to shadow as he draws near.

Stardust has posed:
"Is it kidnappers season already?" Colette asks. "I don't have my hunting license, but what the hell. I'm in. I uh... I'm Stardust. Did I mention that last time? I don't recall. No Bowie jokes. They're not in season. " Though she talks to Vorpal, her eyes are mostly for his companions. Particularly the green one, who she'd been trying to decide between 'collegue' and 'pet'. However the green cat can talk, and that settles it. As for the one dangling, bat-like... "So you guys have kind of an animal thing going on. Did you escape from a circus? Uh... later. Rooftops. Check. Lead on." With which she flies back up, waiting to see which way to go.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian gave a nod to all three. The addition of Colette was an X factor, but no bother. He could adapt on the fly. "Highest vantage point, no one ever checks that high. If you go in from the roof, we can get in and out with as little attention brought on as possible." It was true, if only thugs could just look above there would be considerable less issue.

  Beast Boy would be able to find two thugs with pistols on the main gate, and two with SMGs on the outside of the dock building, not too much opposition as it seemed this was not a shipment day.

  Damian shot himself high into the air, turning on his paraglider cape and he'd been able to glide in, keeping his appraoch stealthy. Robin landed on the top of the building, no guards there.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal, meanwhile, used his powers of illusion to turn himself and Stardust virtually invisible as they tail Robin. this will allow her to fly without drawing attention. As for him? He uses his Rabbit Hole to land on the top of the building. This is where his team-mates learn that the Rabbit Hole is, actually, completely silent. He adds the extra sparkles and lights with his illusion powers when he wants to wow people.

"Ok... we look for a way in, like a skylight or a window?" the cat hisses. He keeps his ears attentive for Beast BOy, though. He doesn't know if he's figured a way to have his communicator with him when he shifts or not, so he simply listens for any signal.

Beast Boy has posed:
No idea how to make a communicator work when one can go from flea to Smaug in a few heartbeats. Thus, BeastBoy's left to his own devices. He counts the people outside, notes their weapons, and makes a plan as to which animal would be best to take them out, when the time came. Likely a Wooly Mammoth.

Because Snuffleupagus is a f^(<ing bada$$.

Shifitng into a mouse to slip into a crack around the door, Garfield makes his way inside. He's got to get up to the roof, since thats where the flyers are going to be, then he'll hippoo ballerina from Fantasia the guards. Because that suddenly sounds amusing.

Pink er.. Green Elephants on parade!

Stardust has posed:
Colette comes to land on the roof beside Damian, while holding her virtually invisible hand up to the sky, staring through it. "Wow, I can see stars. Neat cape," she says at a whisper. "Normally I'd say they're a bad idea, but that gliding trick is pretty cool. What's the plan?" She looks from Vorpal to Damian, waiting for some suggestion. "Is there a plan, or do we just go in and knock heads together? No wait, kidnappers. Might have hostages. How about you guys do the skylight thing, and I create a diversion at the front? Maybe I can draw away a few people from inside while you get the kidnapees out. What do you think? Or if diversion is too subtle, I can just go and punch the guards, or something?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The newest Robin clicked his tongue to his teeth. He wasn't used to working on a team. "Skylight at my 6, we move in, and subdue anyone else inside. I doubt they will go ahead and hurt their 'product'."

  Damian pulled open the skylight, and slips through, landing on a catwalk below. They were looking for the office, which should be closeby, it always was in these dock buildings.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Cheshire cat grins at Stardust. "How about I let you punch the first thugs you see down here?" the cat whispers as he inches over to the skylight. He becomes visible and gestures an 'After You' to Stardust, and then climbs in. It's good to be a cat, since he doesn't need enhancements to see in the dark.

He will let Stardust pummel any guards they see first. A promise is a promise.

"...Greenie... you here?" he whispers very, very quietly as he comes down.

Beast Boy has posed:
Just inside hte door, Garfield keen rodent ears note the arrival of Vorpal. Witht he team insdie, the mouse turns aroud and slips back outside. Alright. They got in and are sure to be able to handle the insdie. So, Garfield changes his mission perimeters (without consulting anyone because that's how he rolls) from scout and report to SNUFFLEUPAGUS TIME!

Beast Boy runs as a mouse from the door, toward the street so he can get a better angle for his charge. Then, shifting to a cat to get soem velocity, Garfield charges as a kitten but crashes into the midst of th guards as an emerald green Whooly Mamoth, complete with curled tusks.

Mammoth Boy lets out a trumpet blast from his trunk as he preceeds to keep the men with the guns outside highly occupied. First with a Mammoth, then with a veloceraptor, then with a gorilla, and then a rat and a hornet.

A green hornet.

Kato's inside, duh!

Stardust has posed:
Colette watches Robin drop down through the skylight, looking slightly puzzled. "I thought he was going to count to... oh, six as in six o'clock. Got it," she whispers. "So no distractions?" She creeps stealthily towards the skylight, craning back over her shoulder to ask Vorpal "So uh if the plan is to go in and pummel, why are we bothering with stealthy? And whispering?"

  Colette slips down through the skylight, landing lightly, and peers around. Seeing no immediate signs of anyone watching, she zips through the air to stop in a crouch further along the catwalk, where she can keep an eye on parts of the interior not visible from the skylight end, and scopes about for signs of offices, kidnapees, or guards in need of pummelling.

>crunch<

>Blam!<

>TRUMPETING MAMMOTH<

>Velociraptor sound effects!<

>Gorilla ROAR!<

>squeak, squeak< >bzzzzzz<

  Colette remains crouched, blinking slightly. "So much for stealth..."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
Once inside, there were only a sparce four guards inside, no one had really thought of...a menagerie of green animals making a ruckus outside. From the catwalk the trio could see the guards run out and get what could only be described as one of the coolest or most humilating beatings they had ever received. "And...that happened." Robin offers with another tongue click, he was -very- not used to working on a team. What had once been a stealth mission now turned to a recon mission. "Alright, once we are in we need documents, shipping manifests. Things that leave the harbor have to be bonded in order to leave without an inspection. Even if they are set up via a dummy corporation, we can follow the trail back to wherever they have their holding operation set up." He opens the door to the office, to gunfire.

  Quick thinking closed the door and Robin ducks as soon as it happens. "F&#$"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"DITTO!" the cat says as he hits the ground and ducks for cover. He wa deathly allergic to bullets, he had discovered, and was in no hurry to partake of the samples. He needed to think quickly. He couldn't get a good view without getting his head blown off so Rabbit Holing behind the shooters was out of the question. Even invisible he would risk getting shot. "Any ideas here? 'cause I forgot to bring my bullet-deflecting bracelets!"

Stardust has posed:
Colette does not want to be deprived of her promised guard-pumelling. As the four guards head to the front to engage in the mammoth slash velociraptor slash gorilla, she spots one with slightly more tactical nous than the others, taking up the rear and pausing to see what he's getting into. She flits down, dropping silently behind him, and taps him on the shoulder. As he turns, she puts her fingers to her lips, whispers "Shh, stealth operation," then head-butts him out cold.

  With another stealthy flit back up, Colette lands next to the other two, just in time to see Robin duck bullets and Vorpal hit the ground. More blinking ensues. "We should discuss tactics some time," she hisses. "'Cos you guys confuse me."

  Crouching down close to the other two, Colette waits until the firing stops, and says "We could go round and go through the wall, take them from the side, maybe? Or does anyone have like sleeping gas or..." she stops short, falls silent for a moment, and says "Good point," in response to nothing obvious. Then she stands up, walks to the door, looks at it for a moment and then kicks it HARD, right in the middle, hoping to knock the door off its hinges and into the room beyond.

  Teams, eh Robin?

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian grits his teeth, futzing with his utility belt and withdrawing two smoke pellets before Colette kicks in the door with a spectacular crash.

  The single gunman had kept his firearm pointed away from the door as he reloaded, not practicing good combat reloading skills. Once inside, Colette would find it more than easy to take him down.

  Once in, Robin started to work finding anything he could on the operation. He removed his R badge, placing it next to the computer tower, using it to create a copy of the hard drive's contents. He clacks away at the keyboard, trying to find anything he could on the whereabouts of their central operation.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"That's exactly what I would have done!" the Cheshire cat says. When Robin and Colette take charge, he decides to run interference. "If anyone comes this way, I'll make sure they can't find their way..."

He accomplishes this by weaving an illusion around the area of twisting hallways that end and begin in each other, a veritable garden of forking paths meant to dizzy anyone who happens to make their way to them.

"I may not be bulletproof, but I now how to get people lost!"

Stardust has posed:
Following the door in, Colette pounces quickly on the gunman, elbowing him in the face hard enough to make him dizzy, and yanking the gun from his hands. She grabs him by the scruff of his neck and lifts him off the ground, giving him a bit of a shake. "Damn it," she snarls at him. "You were supposed to be standing behind the door! That was my plan, take you out with the door. It would have been cool. You have no sense of style!"

With the dazed guard held in one hand and the guard's gun in the other, Colette turns her attention to Damian. "Watcha doing?" she enquires. "Looking for clues? Hacking stuff? Maybe this guy knows the passwords. " She gives the already shaken guard another shake. "Hey, dork. Spill. Passwords, now. You owe me for not having the class to be standing behind the door. I'm still pissed at that, don't make me more pissed."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "Good plan, Vorpal." Robin says with a smirk. The thug in Colette's hands is in enough of a dizzy spell that his responses are all crazy. "-ow s'pose I giving you a present." Damian turns around swiftly at both of them. "You're just a peon, you don't know sh#$, do you?" Damian shakes his head. "He's toast, or concussed, in which case, bravo." He offers, looking back to the screen. "I'm making a copy of the drive, we can analyze it later and grab even more off of it at my computer."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Hey, let her have her fun," the cat quips at Robin with a grin. He tests his powers and extends the range of the illusion some more, getting some truly M. C. Escheresque effects. He's almost making *himself* dizzy. Almost.

"And by your computer you mean the one at the tower... or the Belfry?" that's the name he gives to Batman's headquarters. Because, how can he know? "Do we ever get to be invited to the Belfry? I'll invite you to my apartment-" he smirks, twisting the perceptions of space and time in his illusion just a little more. For funsies. "Granted, I don't have a supercomputer there. I've got a PS7, though!"

Stardust has posed:
Colette looses interest in the concussed guard, and throws him -- not too hard -- into the corner of the room. She wanders over to the computer that Damian is busy with, peering at the screen. "Why not just take the drive?" she asks curiously. "I mean it's right here. Or are we doing stealth again? 'cos I'm fairly sure we're not going to like slip out of here unnoticed and nobody's gonna know we got their data. And just so you know, I'm morally opposed to killing all the guards and burning the place down to cover our tracks. I'm hungry, we should go for snacks after this. You guys know anywhere good to eat around here?"

Colette doesn't wait for an answer, but wanders over to the concussed guard, poking him with a toe. "Hey! No-class guard guy. Where's good to get food around here?" she demands.

  "Bwub nuf," he responds.

Colette sniffs, and walks back towards the computer. "You're right," she says. "He doesn't know sh#$." She stands around watching the hacking progress, peers through the doorway at the Escheresqueness, shakes her head, and looks back. She glances around, trying to decide what to do next, then notices she's still holding the guard's gun. "Hey," she says to Vorpal. "Want a gun?" she holds it out to him, grip-first.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "I really meant that...concussing someone without knocking them out, it's nice." Robin looks back to Vorpal. "I could get through it with the computer at the Tower." Damian offers with a nod. "It's a cave." He offers. "Do you really want to be invited to it? You remember how father reacted to you the first time, now imagine that, in his sanctum." Damian grabs the badge, placing it over his left side again, right in the divot in his costume. "We need its copy because...that's just how we do it.". He made a note to check with Oracle why they just never outright took drives. "Food? Not here, maybe in the Heights or another part of town, for now let's get out of here."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
The Cheshire cat grins and shakes his head at Stardust, "Nah, I don't handle those. My fingers get all sweaty and always end up firing prematurely. Keep it as a trophy!"

When the enigma of why we always copy the drives comes up, he gives it a good ddeal of thought until he hits his first guess. "In case the drive may have a tracker inside, right? That's totally it!" the cat says, taking pride in himself and convinced that he totally cracked a Bat-secret. The wind in his sails is taken out when Robin describes what an evening of hell would most likely be like.

"Yyyyeah nevermind about the cave, we can hang out in my flat."

As soon as the drive is done and Damian sounds the treat, the cat stops the illusion and starts moving. "C'mon, let's get to that skylight!" He doesn't dare do a blind Rabbit Hole because those require a lot of focus, and too many things can go wrong in a high-pressure situation. Line of sight only for these cases. "Gar knows to give chase and run off," provided he hasn't knocked everybody out already. "I'll give him a signal on our way out."

Stardust has posed:
Looking a little disappointed by Vorpal's refusal of the gun, Colette stares at it, trying to figure out what to do with it. Rather than keeping it as a trophy, she takes the clip out, empties the breech, and starts tugging and poking at it until she manages to break a hopefully vital bit of it off, and dumps it on the floor.

  Colette nods her head at Damian, then takes a step over to the dazed guard. "You hear that? I'm nice. I was nice to you." She raises a finger, and wags it at him. "Now don't do it again! No more kidnapping people. Clean up your act." Leaving him to process this, she returns to the other two. "You live in a cave? Cool, I've never met a cave man before. Should we wreck the place a bit before getting out of here? I mean it's kind of Bad People's lair. Might as well wreck their sh#$ up, right?" She proceeds to wreck sh#? up, including putting her fist through the computer. "Uh, you did finish with that, right?" she asks, while extracting her fist. "Okay, let's go."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The thug looks up at Colette. "K O lay" He quips, before passing out. Robin just shakes his head and clicks his tongue again. "Yes, I'm done with it." He jumps and banks off the wall to reach the skylight again, pulling himself up with not much of a struggle.

  Damian doesn't mention he's been to Vorpal's flat, the guise of Damian versus Robin is still intact! At least for a little while. As soon as they got back to the tower, Damian would need to get the data off and start digging around for the answer he was looking for.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
As the cat runs across the roof, once he has cleared the skylight, he says "Hey, Star, come to the tower with us. We'll order pizza and wait for Robin to decode the drive!"

How is he getting back? Well, there is the signal, after all. "Follow me!"

And he runs, and then takes a running leap off the roof with the grace of an olympic diver.

"FAAAAAAAAAALKOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOR!"

And I'm not going to say that a green Luck Dragon swept up from the ground and carried Vorpal away, or that it might have also offered a ride to Robin (evven if he might hissily reject it). That is another story, to be told at another time. What I WILL tell you, though, is that the building was left very much a wreck.

"I kinda feel sorry for whomever has to do clean-up," the Cheshire cat mutters as the building grows smaller in the distance. "... but not really."

Stardust has posed:
Colette follows the pair of them to the skylight, kicking things as she goes. She's obviously really into her 'wreck their sh#? up' plan. She doesn't try to compete with Damian's well-honed parkour or Vorpal's feline grace, but she does fly for the difficult bits, which helps. "What tower?" she asks Vorpal. "I mean I basically have no idea who you guys are, still." When Vorpal simply dives off the building, she shrugs her shoulders, takes a deep breath, and follows. "Oh well," she says to herself as she coasts through the night air. "What do I care what tower, so long as it has pizza?"