4198/Riddle Me This...

Riddle Me This...
Date of Scene:	04 April 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Red X sets the Titans a series of puzzle to solve. Can the Titans crack the code? Spoiler:Yes, but not without a lot of snark.
Cast of Characters:	Stardust, Amarok, Raijin, Raven

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Stardust has posed:
It's a puzzling time for the Titans. Literally. The mysterious figure known as Red X (or X-Face, if you're Colette) has continued his campaign of Titan Taunting with a new package, containing training wheels and a message. To the Titans in general, he has this to say: "Titans: When is the top of a mountain like a savings account?

There are individual messages to.

  To Stardust: "When does a painter use a trigger instead of a brush? One World Plaza. "

To Vorpal: "Nvgilklorh Mzgrlmzo Yzmp Zkiro 4gs, 2026. Sld uzi droo gsv izyyrg slov tl?"

To 'Raijin': "nhcei pfu yei jkrmak z rm qgvfegce jrte kr me khc plzea znwze

...and finally to Raven: "Jurer lbh bapr nyzbfg sbhaq zr bhg lbh snvyrq gb qb fb Abj lbh zhfg eryl ba fbzrbar ryfr sbe lbh gb qrpbqr guvf. Jung pna lbh qb jura fgevccrq bs lbhe cbjre?"

How much of a threat this mysterious figure is remains to be seen. Certainly it's something that should be taken seriously though. The challenge -- with the delivery of trianing wheels -- is obvious. Surely the Titans must rise to the challenge, prove to Red X that they are competent, solve his riddles and perhaps punch him in the face a little bit.

No doubt this is what Colette is doing in the Ops room, sitting on a sofa with a tablet in one hand, a can of soda in the other, and a look of deep concentration on her face as she tries to break the ciph... no. She's got this month's Performer Magazine on the tablet and is reading that instead. Perhaps it was too much to hope that she was being productive.

Amarok has posed:
The elevator doors swish open as the perpetually armored Wolf limps his way into the room, stopping briefly look quizzically at Colette. A moment's staring, and he resumes his limp, grabbing a seat on the far end of the couch, sinking slowly down into, ".....So....Nice....whatever..." He says awkwardly in his permanent quiet monotone, apparently trying to break the silence.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner was actually finishing up his duties at his company, Vasusena Enterprises. While not the CEO, he is the 'crown prince' as it were, coming out of the giant building in New York City wearing a two-piece black suit with an electric blue tie. He looks great, and he checks his watch for the time....before his cell phone rings. Only to show a picture of the note that the Titans had received. Thank you to whoever sent that, by the way. Sighing lightly, he's briefly encompassed by lightning before he gets to one side of New York to the other in about less than 30 seconds. Given, he's moving on a -mission-.

He arrives in a lightning trail, causing only some lightning arcs to fly in the room, but nothing that can harm anyone. Yes, he's still in his suit. Yes, he still looks like a literal billion dollars, because he's probably the richest Titan. "Okay, what we got?" he says then, plopping right next to Colette as he looks at her tablet.

"Random coded messages from the team's regular stalker?" He looks over the message again. "Heh, he even included me in this one. I feel so honored."

Raven has posed:
    Raven has, like the others, been made aware of the individual riddles. Admittedly, she's mostly helpless- but there are certain things she's... Better at than most. She isn't a codebreaker- and outside of moderately clever googling, she won't be of much use breaking her own coded message...

    But the two in English stick out like a sore thumb.

    When she arrives, it's the usual Raven affair. One moment, she isn't in the room. The next, she approaches the seated Colette from an angle that says she came neither from the lift, nor the doorway into the rest of the floor. Totally normal and not creepy at all.

    Her dreary voice cuts the silence with not a greeting to Colette, but revelations! "Well the first two are pretty easy." she begins, her monotonous voice hinting at... Well, nothing. "A mountain is like a savings account when it piques one's interest. He's saying we have his attention, I think." There's a short pause after that, "The one for Stardust pretty important. A painter uses a trigger instead of a brush when they're a stickup artist. He gave a location, too. I think he's talking about a robbery that has or will occur." After that, she sort of shrugs, and slips her phone- from which she'd been reading the riddles, into her pocket.

    "I don't speak whatever language he's using in the rest. It's probably some sort of code. I don't know much about that."

Stardust has posed:
Colette looks up from her tablet when Dan enters. "Day, Wolfy. Nice /day/. They often are. The sunlight thing is quite nice, if you're not absolutely desperate for deep shadows to hide in." She resumes reading for a few moments before Rayner lands next to her, then lowers her tablet again. "Heya Rainman. That your new crime-fighting outfit? Oh, the x-face thing... Yeah." She raises the tablet again to resume reading a fascinating article on microphones. Then Raven arrives in the way that only Raven does and she lowers the tablet again, sighing slightly as she realizes this is not going to be the time for quiet reading.

"That's a really awful riddle, Rae," Colette answers. "Piques one's... no. I mean riddles like that ought to be illegal. Riddling supervillains shouldn't be allowed. This guy is clearly an Enigma wrapped in a basket case. And a painter uses a trigger when he's using a paintgun, so that's dumb."

Colette drops the tablet down into her lap and slumps back into the sofa, taking a slurp of her soda. "As for the rest... meh. I'm pretty sure that if you reverse all the letters and translate it from Bulgarian, it's gonna say 'Never gonna give you up'."

Amarok has posed:
The Wolf looks over at Colette, his expression hidden by the mask, "....It's day?" He asks in his monotone, looking around with obvious confusion, before shrugging and grunting it off. Rayner's arrival goes ignored, and Raven's only gets a glance over before he looks away while she breaks things down, "....Those sound like puns...." The monotone taking a slightly angry turn. That done, he turns away, seemingly not interested in the challange.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner smiles softly then to Colette as she asks him if that's his new superhero attire. "Thank ya, but no. I just got off the job...the name Vasusena means I got to at least show up at the Building every now and then." says the Billionaire with electricity powers. That said, he looks at the riddles curiously. "I can see about decoding them.." he moves to the main computer, putting his programming skills to the test. What? He practiced being a white hat hacker for a while but then he got bored.

"Dunno if I can crack this..." he moves a few of the holo pictures around, tossing one Colette's way with a grin to the lady. "You good with computers?"

Eyes fall on Raven then. "Can't you work your magic and like...I don't know, solve the mystery?" lcearly, he hasn't a mind for how magic actually works. But hey, least he tried. He -does- look back to Colette. "If he's gonna Rick Roll us, at least we gotta have fun with it. I'll sing 'Never gonna let yuo down' and Raven can pick up from there." least his humor is still in tact.

Raven has posed:
    Raven shrugs at the other woman's comment. "I didn't write it." she states. "The idea of a paint gun doesn't necessarily... Fit." Her brow has risen, though it's hard to see below the hood she's pulled up around her head. "The other riddle is a pun. It makes sense that this riddle would be a pun, unless he's asking you to look at his street mural down at One World Plaza. My bet on the bank robbery. It's not the worst way for someone to ask you out on a date."

    Her attention shifts to Rayner- as Dan seems to have washed his hands of the matter, which she doesn't really have much to say about, as it seems like the sanest idea- "I. Don't. Sing." she begins, addressing that comment. "I could probably work a little magic. There are things out there that like jokes and puzzles, that I could speak to."

Stardust has posed:
Colette empties her soda and throws the can at Dan. Not hard. It's easy enough to dodge, but it's not going to hurt him if he doesn't. "Wake up, Wolfpool. This should be right down your darkened alley. The guy is some kind of ninja, and my bet is League training. At least /look/ interested!"

"Isn't there like a 'decipher random stuff' web site we can stick this all in?" Colette asks, staring at the holo image Rayner flicks over as if it was something infectious. "Code breaking is for techy types. Where's Robin? This would be perfect for him. Or we could you know, not play the game. Ignore the guy until he actually shows his face. IF he actually shows his face. And then..." her eyes slide towards Raven. "Raven can sing to him."

Colette stretches an arm behind her neck and slides down, losing herself in the embrace of the sofa. She stares at the holo displaying the riddles, at least attempting to show willing. Perhaps if she stares hard enough she'll intimidate the cipher into cracking. "Yeah. I'm sure you're right, Rae. I mean either he's bragging about a hold-up or about his part-time job as a skyscraper painter. Context and all that. But if he thinks I'm gonna hang around One World Plaza forever on the off chance he decides to hold up one of the dozens of businesses there... yeah, no. " She jabs a finger towards the holo "I mean at least Vorpal gets a date. Uh... not that kind of a date, Rae.

Amarok has posed:
The Wolf leans forward ever so slightly and the can soars past him, caught by his hand as it reaches the outer limits of his reach. He pulls it back and gently sets it down on the table before leaning back, "....I dont know why you're looking at me. I'm not a code breaker." He says in his standard barely audible monotone.

Raijin has posed:
"What was that? my hearing isn't that good." Rayner responds softly to Dan, attempting to crack this code as he enters in an old algorithm that he would use to hack into more advanced computers at the time. Though as he does such, he's typing like insanity, chuckling to Colette as she speaks about not being a codebreaker. "Thankfully, I'm the next best thing cmopared to Robin...even though he'd likely wipe me out if we went head to head in hacking. Robin and all, Batman. Yeah...not good odds for me." He's humble, at least.

"Well, who knows? Maybe you and I can go Colette and have a pizza or something and have...what's it called? a stakeout? God I need to catch up on Spy movies." he shakes his head at himself, before he looks to Raven. Scary half-demons are scary. "....bet you have a pretty voice?" cue nervous laughter. "Well, whatever you think can help, Rae. at this point...I might have cracked the one for Raven, but let me check." He runs through hte algorithm again in a reverse loop to discover the missing pierces! Or try to. Puzzles are stupid.

Raven has posed:
    Raven just stands there for a moment, watching the holographic imaage Rayner was projecting. Her hands shifted position, slipping into her pockets just as Colette said something that seemed to... Perplex her. She zoned out for a moment, her gaze shifting off to the side seemingly pensive for some time. This silence continues for a bit, sort of glazing over everything that was said- which is telling, considering a comment is made about her voice, yet she doesn't respond.

    "Hm?" she offers, once her name was mentioned. "Oh, good. I'll soon know what this particular stalker wants to tell me. That makes me so very... Ecstatic. I'm just -giddy.-"

Stardust has posed:
"Leave the codebreaking to Rainman here, Wolfy," Colette says. "But don't you want to break this guy's face? Maybe we could make a contest out of it. Last one to punch this guy in the face has to pay for the ..." she frowns slightly and turns to Rayner, staring at him for a few moments.

"Make up your mind, Rainman. You can't have a pizza if you're going for a steak out. It'll spoil your appetite, and that's a good steak wasted." Colette flicks the holo projection back at Rayner with a frustrated gesture, and she turns her attention to Raven. Her expression clouds, and a frown creases her forehead. "You okay, Rae Rae? You're looking pretty distracted there. I mean you didn't just kill me and Rainman. What's bothering you?"

Amarok has posed:
The Wolf looks back over at Colette, "....Why would I? As far as I know, he's been...minorly annoying. I dont see a need to cripple him." He says in his bored monotone before looking over at Raven, "....I can tell. You sound almost as uproariously excited as I do...." Was....Was that a joke? I didn't know he could do those.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner is typing away as he starts codebreaking, but as Colette frustratedly tosses a holo screen at him..it does nothing. cause Holo. Either way, his eyes fall upon Colette in quesiton first. "Well, which would you prefer? Pizza or Steak out? I think I like getting pizza with you." he grins softly before his eyes fall upon Raven with a soft smile. "Might take me a bit longer. Whoever made this did it with the certainty of being an asshole." He shakes his head then.

His eyes fall on Wolfdude. "Right....well, at least you sound louder." he mentions that bit with a soft smile, though it's clear he's trying with this GODDAMN COMPUTER

Raven has posed:
    Raven sets her eyes on Colette for a moment, but merely shakes her head. "No, I was just thinking for a moment. I may have missed my queue, but just a moment." After stating that, she brings a hand up, and with a mild flourish of her wrist, returns Colette's can to her. It is traveling at twice the speed of when Colette originally threw it, so since the woman is both sitting down and the angle of the can is weird, it'll be more difficult to dodge.

    When it lands, she'll slip a shadow under it- assuming it isn't caught, specifically- and allow it to fall out of the roof, directly above Rayner.

    In the meantime, more sarcasm. "No, please, do everything you can to solve this puzzle as quickly as possible. I wait with baited breath."

Stardust has posed:
Does Colette see the can in time? Does she dodge the can, or catch it? The answer to the second question is no. The answer to the first must remain a mystery to all. She doesn't react as if she's seen it, but then this is Colette. She has a tendency to not be bothered about things hitting her. She seems to have become sufficiently used to her powers to largely overcome the normal human instinct to duck. This is probably not a good sign, all things considered.

"We all like pizzas, Rain. I think that's pretty well established at this point. Honestly? We could do with a change though. I mean all this pizza just isn't healthy. The only thing is I'm worried what Kori would do to steaks. I mean... actually mustard goes great with steak, but preferably if it's not burned to a cinder, you know?"

"This is getting boring." Colette sighs and jumps to her feet, pacing. "Look, let's find this guy, beat him up, end of story. Okay? We don't need to solve all the riddles, we just need to solve one that actually has some useful information. I mean we only need to actually nab the guy once, right? Concentrate on the Vorpal one. 'Cos presumably that's going to tell us where the guy is going to be tomorrow."

Amarok has posed:
The Wolf chuckles ever so slightly at the abuse aimed at Colette and Rayner before looking up to the former as she once again suggests what's usually his standard response to problem solving, "Why? Because he's a mild annoyance? Seems an extreme reaction to me." He says in usual flat tone.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner keeps it going then, typing and typing and typing before he smiles. "Figured out Vorpal's....I think." He sets it on display for everyone to see. "Cypher's a bitch.." he mutters softly to himself before eventually the message reads loud and clear. "Metropolis National Bank April 4th, 2026. How far will the rabbit hole go?" He looks to those around him then, despite can abuse. "Ow...I'm working here!" and he moves on to the next one.

"Okay Colette, steaks it is. and ther'es your useful information bored Colette." he winks at the lady before he moves on to the next one, narrowing his eyes as he gets busy. "...this is a personal challenge for me now." he shakes his head softly. Though he looks to Colette ."When's a good day for getting steaks?" he asks her curiously.

Raven has posed:
    Raven's marksmannship is impeccable, and it also helps that her targets are not and/or cannot dodge at that particular moment. However, after a time, she becomes somewhat preoccupied in her own head for a while, listening in- but not commenting, for a time. She takes on this... Almost observatory role, allowing the others to talk and make their own plans to counter Red X without her.

    It's not necessarily out of a desire to remain apart, but more that this particular thing isn't Raven's expertise. She had enough intelligence and, frankly, enough knowledge of riddles, to decode Stardust's and the one for the Titans. With her hands in her pockets, she's allowing Rayner to do his thing.

    "Seems like generic taunts and posturing. This is my impressed face."

Stardust has posed:
"Metropolis bank," Colette repeats. "Good. Can't have been that much of a bitch. I mean, 'g' for 't', 's' for 'h', that's obvious. Then we can guess it's 'z' for 'a', 'k' for 'p', 'i' for 'r', 'r' for 'i'... 'r'... wait..." she stops suddenly and starts counting on her fingers, up to 9, and then back down again. "Huh. It's just backwards." She looks at Rayner suspiciously, then breaks into a grin. "Trying to impress us, huh?" she says, before sticking her tongue out at him.

"So!" Colette seems quite a bit more relaxed suddenly, now that one of the puzzles is solved. She walks over to a table and grabs a game controller before heading back to her spot on the sofa, collapsing comfortably into it, and starting up a game that involves shooting Nazis. "Umm... " her attention is focused on the game and she takes a moment to remember what she was saying. "Right. So two options. One, we stake out the bank, nab the guy, and then have a steak out to celebrate. Two, we just tell the cops some guy with an 'x' for a face is planning to rob the bank tomorrow and let them deal with him. 'Cos.." she jerks a finger in Raven's direction. "...impressed face. This game was way more fun in real life."

Colette may have slightly missed Rayner's point.

Amarok has posed:
The Wolf looks between each person in turn as they speak, then glances off at nothing for a few moments. With that, he stands up, and limps away without another word, apparently disinterested in the planning going on.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner looks at Raven then with a small smile. "That's my thinking." he agrees with her before his eyes fall on Colette....damn, missed that oppurtunity. Though he takes a deep breath, running his algorithm about two more times while changing the shift-matrix each time. ".....found out Raven's. Nothing useful, more like a taunt."

He displays it on the screen then for the whole team to see. "where you once almost found me out you failed to do so. Now you must rely on someone else for you to decode this. what can you do when stripped of your power?" He looks then to Raven with an apologetic look. "...sorry." and he gets back to work, though he looks at Colette. "If you die, you swap with me. and yeah....totally showing off right now." he grins to her with a soft wink before he's right back to work. Time to solve his.

Best for last, right?

Raven has posed:
    Raven is more or less her same stoic self throughout the whole of it, until the breadth of her 'puzzle' is revealed. Her brow raises, but her response is relatively simple. "Huh." she says, at first, though this time she covers up how to-the-left this set of circumstances leaves her by responding quickly and in her usual fashion. "Without my power, I'd just make him feel bad about himself."

    With that, though, she turns, and walks towards the nearest wall. Without a further word- even though her behavior was strange enough to warrant some discussion, likely- she was walking into a shadow that formed itself upon the wall, seemingly extending from her own. When she disappears into it, the thing collapses in on itself, before disappearing entirely.

Stardust has posed:
Almost as soon as Rayner says it, Colette's digital soldier goes to the great digital war cemetry in the sky. Or the Cloud or something. She gives a loud "Hmph!" before tossing the controller Rayner's way and saying "This game is like fifty times harder when you can't fly and aren't invulnerable to bullets. Kinda sucks. Watch out for the snipers on that roof there... and a tank is gonna come around that corner in a minute. No, two tanks."

Colette turns her head to look thoughtfully at Raven, one eyebrow arching slightly. She holds that for a while, studying the monotone one with a calculating look. It's the kind of thing that might make you feel a little nervous and self-concious if you weren't the kind of person who makes other people feel a little nervous and self-concious instead. And if you're not busy fading out into the walls."I'm not sure that's entirely useless, Rainman," she says, still looking at the spot on the wall where Raven vanished. "Almost found him out? That sounds kinda like it might be a clue. Did she have some kind of run in with this guy before that she's not telling us about?"

Colette thinks about this conundrum for a while, then shrugs her shoulders and gets up to fetch a second controller. "I guess everyone declared this meeting over. C'mon Rainman, let's kill some nazis."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner is typing like a madman, anyone looking at the screen can see words and letters being exchanged as he's clearly running a more Vigenere output of this FREAKING PAIN IN THE ASS OF A CIPHER! But, Rayner's just getting frustrated. at the toss from Colette at him from that throw, Rayner catches it it pretty easily, setting it next to him before he suddenly slams his fist on the computer.

"Figured it out!" he has a small breath of victory before he looks around. Well, Raven and Wolfdude both seem to have left, leaving only Colette and Rayner behind. Though he doesn't seem to like his. "This one is probably the longest shot...may not even be right, but let's hope it's pretty damn close." He puts it on display then.

"where you are strong I am stronger face me in the china basin." He tilts his head then. "Which doesn't sound right at all." He sighs then, before grabbing the controller.

"Yeah, let's kill some nazi's." and thus he and Colette probably stayed up way longer than they should have playing a game about brutalizing Nazi's.