4443/Red X: What's on the Disc, Rayner

Red X: What's on the Disc, Rayner
Date of Scene:	13 May 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Red X has another message for the Titans. Damian makes a shocking discovery. Lyssa gets hot under the collar. Rayner wants to try all 9,000 quintillion combinations. Dan is antisocial. Colette apparently can't count up to seven, repeatedly.
Cast of Characters:	Breath, Amarok, Stardust, Raijin, Robin (Wayne)

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Breath has posed:
The preparations are made for the Sacrament Of The Pizza. Boxes are solemnly carried in and placed upon the table in wait for the arrival of the hungry. Mustard is placed with care, along with plates, forks, and napkins.

Finished, Breath nibbles guiltily on a hot wing and looks about, awaiting the arrival of the worshippers of the Great Mozzarella.

Amarok has posed:
A hand darts past Breath and is yanked back just as suddenly, one of the pizza boxes having been snatched. Amarok is already turned around and making his way out, apparently attempting to abscond with the dairy overlord known only as Pizz'ah, without a word.

Stardust has posed:
It's the day after the second showdown. Stabbings have occured. First aid and x-rays have been done. Sleep happened - at least for some people. And now there is time for some results to have come back from the lab. Blood sample from the shuriken to have been analyzed, and the contents of the disc to have been isolated and rendered safe.

There are Titans who are good at this stuff. Sciency Titans. Colette is not one of those. However she is absolutely not sitting around waiting for the results to come in. She just happens to be sitting around rather than working in the Danger Room as she normally does when at the tower, for reasons. Perfectly good reasons. She's sitting on a couch in the main room, playing a game on her pad because that's a really constructive thing to do.

When Breath arrives with the pizzas, she puts down her pad and bounces over. "Food!" She says with a smile. "Great idea, Breathy." She grabs a couple of slices of pizza from the box and takes them back over to the couch to eat, like a cat seizing its share of the prey and retreating to a secure place to consume it before it's stolen. Apparently plates are wasted on her.

Raijin has posed:
Coming out of the medbay and limping only slightly, with about a day left of recovery before he's fully healed, Rayner uses his superspeed to sliiiide on into the ops room. Laving a lightning trail behind him that fizzles out as quickly as it came. His eyes ever forward as he watches Dan and Breath before his eyes move to Colette. "Hey." and he smacks his leg a few times. "Getting it working again."

Moving up to the computer, he shrugs. "Have we looked at the disc yet?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin was in uniform, no cape at this point. He's futzing with his wrist computer, been working on analyzing the blood from the shuriken. It was not as easy as one would think.

  He doesn't say anything, much like his wolf-like counterpart. But a small slice of veggie pizza was taken, and bites were slowly taken.

  Damian himself seems in a less angry mood, though that may be for show.

Breath has posed:
Breath ohs! "Hi Robin!" Slightly chirpier than usual. To the Wuff, she spins, points, curls her fingers. "Amarok! /We have tables!/ Come here and deal with your team so you'll know what's up." She frowns and puts a hand on her hip annoyedly. "We get together, we TALK about what we are up to. We work TOGETHER."

She blows some hair out of her face, since it's getting long enough to, and reaches back to grab another hot wing. "Gawd. Grab a chair if you want to eat." She takes her own advice and pulls out a seat, slipping in and crossing her legs.

Amarok has posed:
Amarok turns back to look at Breath and taps on his mask, "....I cant....." He pauses for a moment and does the Jason Voorhese head tilt, "....As an old friend of mine used to say....What crawled up your ass covered in razor wire?" As always, his tone is completely devoid of emotion or apparent interest, like someone just going through the motions. Rayner's arrival gets a sudden snap of the Wolf's gaze, "I forgot to tell you. Dont use what I gave you more than once a day, or after the wound heals. It's highly addictive....Amongst worse side effects." I can see how someone would forget that minor detail.

Stardust has posed:
Colette sees Rayner entering and frowns a little. "Rainy, are you sure you should be up and about? Let alone up and abouting at super speed? That's probably not good for a stabbed knee. And no. Or at least I haven't. It's gotta be all..." she waves her hands around to explain in detail, "you know. Disinfected. Damian? How's it coming along, safe to eat? I mean watch. Watch video. Eat pizza. I think that way around is better."

To test her theory, Colette watches one of her slices of pizza like a hawk, while eating the other. "Anorak knows what's up already," she comments to Breath. "That's why he's noping the hell out of here."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner looks firstly to Dan. "I know. That's why I haven't been using it." he tells Dan pretty directly. "But thanks. Ended up chickening out of it. Plus the smell was horrid." His eyes shift then to Colette as she talks to him. "I'll be fine. Don't worry." His eyes look ahead to watch as Damian enters.

"Robin. Everything good with that disc? no traps?"

Breath has posed:
Breath eyerolls a bit. "Do we need to make, like, a holo mask or something so you can actually show up to meetings and talk to the other people here? I mean, like, the whole grumpy loner thing sucks when you're supposed to be working as a TEAM. Be all grumpy and aloof OUT THERE. In here, I kind of like to know what the hell is up." She hmphs, then turns to pay attention to Robin as he starts to speak.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian looks up from his holographic display to answer Colette. "Yes, it's safe. They've never used anything before, and this time is no exception." He responds before he begins typing again. "The blood, is another story." He palms the holo display, letting it deactivate for now.

  Once the display is gone, the pizza bone is placed in his mouth, chewing at it idly. "Assassins aren't trained to be happy and sociable, Breath. We are trained to get our mission done. No frivolities. If he has something to help with the team, he will share it." Seems Damian felt it necessary to stick up for the fellow former-leaguer.

  "Now, lets see what Red X has planned next." Robin lowers the lights a bit, and the video starts.

  The screen is black, no X this time. "Congratulations, Raijin. If you are watching this, you've impressed me." The voice is all too familiar, modulated and multiplied, but it's Red X. "For the next challenge, I want to test your skills. It should arrive shortly upon playing this video. Remember: Those deserving may more forward, those who aren't: will be tortured." The video cuts off just after a glowing red X appears on screen.

Amarok has posed:
Amarok turns his glowy gaze on Colette and Rayner, "He needs to keep limber, or early onset arthritis is likely to set in after it heals.....That said, super speed is an unnecessary tax on the body. Cut it off till you're healed, or you may break something that wont fix so easily." Breath's whining is answer by him pulling his Titans' communicator from a belt pouch, "When you need me, you can call me. Dont just wait around and hope by chance I happen to be here."

Stardust has posed:
"Holo mask is actually a pretty good idea, Anorak," Colette says. "You should consider that. It won't make him talkative though Breath. Maybe a new past would do that. Or alcohol."

When Damian announces that the disc is safe, Colette turns to stare at him with a look of infinite patience on her face until he actually starts the video. "Ooh. Rayner. You impressed him. Well, that was informative. Or rather not informative. So I guess this means we're expecting something in the post. Do you think he sent us his Christmas cards early, and each one is written in a different obscure script? Or should we expect a box of Rubik cubes?"

    Stardust shrugs her shoulders and looks away from the screen, to Dan, one eyebrow arched. "You could at least try, Anorak. I'm not saying you'll get it right the first time, but you know? Team. Having each other's backs. You're kinda talking like an outside contractor there."

Breath has posed:
Breath sounds briefly irritable. "I want his attendance, not his happiness." She looks at the screen and makes a face. "Uh." She pauses for a minute, then tilts her head in confusion.

"...That's it? 'The check is in the mail'? Hmm. Wait, replay that, I want to listen for something. Probably a long shot, but like, worth a try? Girls and guys don't talk the same. I've been hoping for an audio sample of unrehearsed X to see if I can pick out prosody and syllable extension."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner watches as the video plays, giving a simple nod to Dan in acknowledgement but his focus is completely on the next step here. as Red X starts talking, he looks to Colette. "Apparently. Guess he's easy to impress." apparently Rayner didn't think he did that well. Eitehr way, he looks to Breath, before he looks around.

"Arriving soon...have we checked the Tower for anything unusual lately?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian gives a sigh, frustrated at everyone. "People in hell want ice water!"

  Robin doesn't seem keen on much of anything right now. The perimeter alarm seems to go off, a package is parachuting in.

  Robin leans against the glass, watching the package drop from the sky. "I'm guessing that's the package." He swipes at his holo display, it turns off the alarm.

Stardust has posed:
"That's a good question, Rayner," Colette agrees with a smile. "Did you and Cy ever get around to scanning the tower for bugs? Because we can now be pretty certain that the tower is thoroughly compromised. Red X is getting inside information. Which means either we're thoroughly bugged, or there's someone feeding info, or..." her smile fades. "Or he's been here all along. Anorak, Robin, you two have been around longest. Would you say he has been around here all along? Or just since say August?"

Colette hops to her feet and goes over to the window, joining Robin to watch the package dropping in. She sighs slightly. "We could donate it unopened to Goodwill, I guess. Or, scan it. Scan it might be a good idea. X-rays and explosive sniffers and stuff."

Amarok has posed:
Colette's comments draw a few things from Amarok. First starters, slowly rising laughter......Yeah. It dies out fairly quickly, but still. And then, as if nothing had just happened, "I dont drink." Is said flatly and as blunt as a well worn smithing hammer. A brief pause and his head tilts back up, glowing LEDs meeting Colette's actual eyes, "....You dont want me trying to be a 'team player'....If nothing else, trust me on that..." He then turns his attention to the video, "....If I were to guess? I'd assume the disk sent out a signal upon being activated. Recommend engaging tower defenses." And then the alarm goes off, "Speak of the devil."

Breath has posed:
Breath sighs loudly. "Or maybe they are looking through the window? Could be a laser bug or something? Ugh. Iunno." She looks up at the ceiling and shrugs at it. "Well, I guess we gotta go get that."

Breath blinks at Robin's outburst. "I'm sorry, Robin. I'm trying to be all productive and professional and stuff. I'm working on it. Like, I even read about chess. I'm practicing.." She sighs and looks down a bit, and debates briefly whether there's something she can blame for her not turning everything amiable and productive.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner looks at Damian as he apparently seems to be frustrated with everyone. "Calm yourself." and then he does. Yay! though out of necessity as the package arrives. "Huh, guess so. So...Hey, Wolf guy." he says to Dan. "Feel like being the one to check it out?" yep, let one of the ninjas handle it. Though he looks at Colette with a small smile. "Sadly, no. Haven't seen Cyborg around lately. Probably just timing. It's something I wanted to do though. Because this is getting old really damn quick."

He puts a hand on Colette's shoulder as he moves past her, letting her ask her question.

A look at Breath. "Relax. You're doing just fine."

Amarok has posed:
Amarok casually tosses the pizza to Rayner, which hopefully he catches without ruining, and leaves to go get the box, the hum of the elevator quickly disappearing as it descends to ground level.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin clenches his fist. He is a bit miffed. He was supposed to be leader, but all he's been able to get done is just get people hurt, and the team not working together it seems. "It's more than chess. Cliche as chess is. You need to know what your team can do, in order to be able to properly strategize."

Stardust has posed:
"He's right, Breathy," Colette chimes in. "Napoleon Buonaparte. One of the greatest tactical geniuses in history. Chess player. Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, chess player. Alexander the Great, uh probably wasn't invented then. Mind you, can you image a game of Titans themed chess? You'd have pieces that could sneak around being all stabby, pieces that fire starbolts, pieces that can blow all the enemy pieces off the board. The Cyborg piece would be handy for one of those magnetic travel chess sets. Comes pre-magnetized. On the other hand, some people might say it would be a chess set made purely from pawns."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner crosses his arms and watches out the window, eyes narrowed as Dan goes to get that package. Though his eyes shift ot Damian and Colette. "Both of you are right...which is what Red X has been capitalizing on." he sighs softly. "But it's not like it's something we can't recover from." he takes a step and he winces, holding his wounded leg. Yep...gonna sit down. and that he does, pulling up a chair as he struggles to move over into it.

"Let's just hope it's not abomb..."

Breath has posed:
Breath sighs and nods. "I know. It's just.. I know how chess works, I just don't really know how to HELP you. I really want to give you what you want, here." Innuendo or not, she was probably completely unaware of it. Probably.

Breath looks down. "Okay. I was hoping for bigger news than this. This just feels.. frustrating." She munches another wing, because they're yummy. "I just wanted to get people together and on the same page here. I want us to be, you know, being a TEAM here. But yeah, I am feeling pretty pawn-y."

Amarok has posed:
Amarok is now visible from the window, exitting the tower. His stride is fairly casual as he approaches the parapackage(tm) until he gets to it. He kneels down and is quite methodical about inspecting the chute before carefully pulling it off of the package. A careful inspection of it's outer appearance is soon followed by opening it and looking inside, apparently an attempt at being thorough before bringing the unknown into the tower with everyone else. Assuming nothing happens to try to kill him, the package is resealed and brought inside, the light coming on over the lift showing it's approach shortly after.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The package is simple enough to open, inside is a metal box, currently unable to be opened. If Amarok doesn't attempt to solve the puzzle on the box, nothing will happen to him.

  The parachute is made of old surplus military parachute material, and parachord. Nothing that could be traced to who bought it.

Stardust has posed:
"It's a box," Colette announces. "We have a box. A metal box. Are there any instructions? I mean there's a lot of different ways to solve a metal box. We could open it. But if that's the puzzle, does just smashing it open count? Or we could bury it and forget about it. Arguably that's the most sensible thing to do here, right? I mean it could be a trap. So get rid of it. Wouldn't that make a smart test? I think it would. Check it for instructions. I bet it comes with instructions written by the guys who write instructions for Ikea. 'Congratulations on the purchase of your Stropp metal box! Insert tab a into slot b and wait for explosion.' Anything written on it?"

Raijin has posed:
Rayner watches as the puzzle is brought in, and he simply leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "If it's a puzzle, we probably have to unlock it that way. You'd think the box has something 'valuable' inside, so busting it open with force is likely a no go. Logically speaking. He seems to be in pretty critical thought, before he looks at Robin.

"Well, you're probably the smartest person here aside from Cyborg...on a side note, I'd love to see that competition, but in seriousness, do you think you could solve the puzzle?" after all, he was -batman's- kid. World's Greatest Detective anyone?

Well, Rayner's taking a back seat on this one. He sucks at puzzles.

Breath has posed:
Breath nods and awaits the revealing of The Box. "Yeah, it is kind of your thing." She daintily cleans her hands and face with a napkin and turns to watch as the drama of the puzzle box unfolds. She's probably going to be of little use on this, anyways.

Amarok has posed:
Amarok's return is announced by the 'SHHUNK'ing of the elevator door opening. He strides back into the room, takes the box from the package, and sets it on the counter by the pizza. Colette is the first one looked at, "....Since you guessed it right, care to be the first crack at the puzzle box? Or should I start throwing it at the wall until it breaks?"

Stardust has posed:
Colette gives Dan a shake of her head. "Don't you know how chess pieces move?" she asks. "I'm the one who flies around the board punching things. At this point in the game, you should be playing one of your detective pieces. Get them to search it for clues. Then bring me in if you want it punched. Or flown somewhere." She walks back to the window, and peers upwards. "I wonder why he threw it at us rather than just bringing it in and leaving it on a table. Cheaper. More efficient. Breathy, you're good at computer stuff, can you log the flight paths of anything that flew overhead just before the perimiter alarm went off, please?"

Raijin has posed:
Rayner looks at Breath then he looks at Amarok as he apparently instantly wants to start chucking it at the wall over and over. "Try and solve the puzzle first." he advises before he looks to Colette. "Let me know if you need any help, Breath. I could probably figure out it's flight path to see where it went, start investigating over there."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
The box inside the package is plain metal, with a red X on the top. Holding the box closed is a seven letter cryptex.

  Robin looks over the box a bit before letting others have a look. He shrugs a bit at being put forth as the first to answer. "Who wants to give a guess?"

Stardust has posed:
Colette peers at it curiously. "A combination lock. Seven letters. Red X is a Dan Brown fan. That's..." she sticks her tongue out and starts counting on her fingers. "Seven to the power of twenty six combinations. Or is it 26 to the power of seven? We need a better mathematician right now. Hmm, you know how in movies the password is always 'password'? Maybe the solution to this one is 'cryptex'. Or do any of us have seven letters in our names?"

Breath has posed:
Breath blinks? "I'm *okay* at it? I guess? But let me see if there's anything logged." She goes over to the closest terminal and starts checking the logs, since it's busiwork that she doesn't want to bother the real experts with. Pulling up records is well within her talents, and she has a passing knowledge of FAA regs and the like from having to learn how to fly without summoning fighter jets. "Well, there's no logged flights, let me check with the closest ATC." She starts trying to pull up records from radar and such in the area, since the FAA tends to be a bit twitchy about unidentified aircraft going untracked.

Amarok has posed:
Amarok stares blankly, as his mask has no facial features, and after a few seconds responds with, "....I hate chess." Said sourly. Rayner's insistance on solving the puzzle like a smart person, instead of doing it like a MAHN is met with a slight shrug as Amarok pushes off from the counter, "Be my guest." He says as he turns to leave, apparently washing his hands of the puzzle entirely. The question of how long everyone's name is causes him to stop, glances back, then apparently shrug it off and resume leaving.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner looks at Colette. "You have several letters in your name." he winks at her as he stands up, moving to the puzzle box with an obvious limp to investigate it. "I swear if it's another Cryptogram..." he mutters to himself even though it's probably exactly what it is. Regardless, he watches as Dan leaves and shrugs before he looks back to the box. "Okay...let's see what I can work with.."

Stardust has posed:
"If it's a cryptogram it needs to be a cryptogram of /something/", Colette points out. "We don't have that much to go on right now. Unless..." she pulls out her phone and takes a photo of the mechanism, to record the start position of all the dials. "Unless what it came saying means something."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The Box bears the word: 'AAAAAAA' on its cryptex.

  Robin gives a chuckle. "Ahh yes, the last word of the animator. Or the location of the castle." Carrie Kelley had him watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail recently, the humor, while crude, was still fresh in his eidetic memory.

  The cryptex box has two halves locked by the cryptex itself. There's no way to test a combination without attempting to open the box.

Stardust has posed:
"You're right Rainy," Colette says looking over to him. "It's a cryptogram. I figured it out. The combination is 'ZZZZZZZ'. He's telling us that we bore him. Shall we ask Raven to spooky transport the contents out of the box? That might be the easiest idea, but it probably counts as cheating. I could try melting the lock into submission?"

Breath has posed:
Breath hmms, "Well, radar is nothing. So it's not anything boring like a passenger plane or anything like that." She rises and drifts back toward the others, looking over Robin's shoulder. She frowns and glares at the box, pondering. "Iunno. 'Forward' maybe? I mean, it's seven letters, and it's totally what they said. That and 'Torture'.. but like... Iunno if we're supposed to try the fail word."

She considers a moment more. "Well, 'Deserve' is seven letters too, so.. yeah."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner smirks lightly at Damian. "Never pictured you to be a Monty Python and the Holy Grail fan. The animator had a sudden heart attack, and the cartoon beast was no more. All we need now is the bunny and we're set." ah, nerd references. He turns his head to Breath as she speaks. "There's multiple combinations...and at this point in time, I'm too sleepy to run them all. No I haven't been getting any." he rubs his head and turns around to start limping off. "I'm going to rest....I should be 100 percent tomorrow...promise." he moves by Colette, whispering something to her in passing, as he walks by Breath to, patting her shoulder. "Try Torture and Colette. I think she's supposed to be next on Red X's hate list." and off he goes. "Robin...do me a solid and just for kicks and giggles, if all else fails, try appealing to Raven."

Stardust has posed:
"Torture isn't gonna be the bunny, Rainman," Colette says wryly. "Due to being eight letters. Not sure why you think I'll be next on the list, he's called out Starfire, Damian and Raven too. How does the order go again? Giant, then Spaniard, then... no that's not right. Forward is a good suggestion. Shall we try that?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian looks to the lock, adjusting it to the word: 'Forward'. He then tries to open the lock, pushing one half to slide over the other. The Box emits a klaxon sound, and is sent straight on his back, his normally combed crew cut now standing on end. "H-Holy shit."

Breath has posed:
Breath is immediately by Robin's side, checking him out. "What happened? Are you okay?" She starts checking him for injuries, starting at his hands and looking generally kind of alarmed. She doesn't even care that Colette is going to be looking at her funny for days. "Should we bring you to medical?"

Stardust has posed:
"Electric shock. Hey, let's try 'electric', that's got seven letters." Colette steps over to check on Damian too, but she doesn't look too worried. Nor does she get quite as close as Breath, letting her get on with it with a faint smirk on her face. "So, we should use rubber gloves when trying things out. That shouldn't be too hard."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian shakes off himself, getting up with ease. "I'm okay, it wasn't bad."

  Robin's hands seem to be fine, and other than smelling a little of ozone now, he is unharmed. "I'm guessing that's what he meant by tortured." His small form and weight made it easy for him to be sent to his back. Others shouldn't be reacting so...dramatically.

  Damian looks to Colette, smirking with a little hubris. "Rubber gloves? Wonder Woman up." He says, laughing a bit.

Breath has posed:
Breath hmphs, crossing her arms and fuming a bit. "I'll go get the lineman's gloves out of the toolbox." She spins around and stalks out of the room to go get some protective gear. Grmbl. Life sucks. Aaargh.

Stardust has posed:
Colette raises an eyebrow at Damian. "It's not me I was thinking of. I mean it's not like I need insulation, is it? I don't actually have to be the path of least resistence." She rises up a foot off the ground to make her point. "And it's a fair bet that Rainy isn't going to be too bothered by electric discharges, what with electricity being is whole thing. But some people might prefer not getting zapped. You know, doesn't make a lot of sense for the pawns to repeatedly electrocute themselves. That's poor chess playing right there. I mean hey it might not be that big a shock, but it's still pretty dumb to get zapped when you can avoid it by, for example, running a grounding cable to the metalwork so the discharge is shorted out. Are we going to bother to trying scanning and x-raying this, or do you think that'll make X-face sulk and stop talking to us?"

"Breathy? Get some grounding cables instead."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "Oh, I'm sorry. Who is the only member of the team who isn't super tough?" Robin laughs wholeheartedly, which is a lot more evil sounding than one would think. "I'm going to guess that we are supposed to weigh the guesses carefully. Put thought into them instead of throwing every seven letter word in the scrabble dictionary at it."

  Robin puts a finger to his mask, switching through different viewing modes. "I am going to bet X...hmm didn't line the box. Looks like X lined the mechanism on the cryptex though. No cheating the code that way." He flips through some of the tumblers. "No lingering residue or fingerprints." He pauses, shrugging his shoulders. "I dunno. The blood work should be done soon. Maybe we can find the answer there instead." Robin starts towards the lab area. "I'll be there if anyone needs me."

Breath has posed:
Breath makes some sort of gesture of recognition of the request on the way out to the lift. Maybe the walk will get the red off her face. Grmbl.

..Then Robin follows her. Aaaaawkward. "UUUuuhhh. So I take it I don't need to get anything? Right. Okay." She nodsnods agreeably, smiles, and slips off to her room in a decidedly fleeing sort of fashion.

Stardust has posed:
Colette smirks a little as Robin gives his speech about super tough team members. "Ooh, let me guess, that's Breathy, right? Or is it Anorak? Hmm I'm not sure know. Which is the one who can only move diagonally?" When he's half way through the door, she adds "If the box isn't lined, we can at least take a peek inside to see if it's even worth opening. For all we know it's a red herring and the clue is in the parachute, so it's an idea to give it a few scans."

With her arms crossed, Colette waits for everyone to leave, then gives a shrug of her shoulders. "I still say just melt the lock off," she says to the empty room. "Moon Moon had the right idea, but there's no need to bother the poor walls."