4537/Dropping In

Dropping In
Date of Scene:	29 May 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Speculation about Red-X leads the Titans to capuccino and deep tissue massage.
Cast of Characters:	87, Stardust, Brick
Tinyplot:	Red X

---

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Whenever you're the Cheshire Cat, everything is a short jump, hop and a skip away. Even Staten Island- though most people would wonder why one earth such a location merits a portal, unless one had a dire florist emergency.

"Sorry," Vorpal says, landing neatly on the sidewalk not too far away from a swanky cafe. He's still in just bike shorts, mind you, and towel, so he is decidedly under-dressed for this part of town. "I went the first place I could think of. I had to get away from Breath before I decided to ask her if she knew how mercenaries even -work-..."

Deep breath. He turns around to face the following Colette.

"What's up?"

Stardust has posed:
"...talk to you about." Colette stops, blinking, and looks around. This was clearly a case of leap before you look. "Where are we? Yeah, Breath is... I don't know what Breath is. But she's it, a lot lately. Not sure what's going through her head. It's weird. I mean it's also creepy, because she... Ah yeah. So, you're not Red X." She stops talking a moment, blinking a few times in silence.

"I mean that's obviously not a revelation to you. But the point is I can eliminate you from the list. Also as a... confederate of Red X. Which was a possibility at one point when Beast Boy was top of my list. But no, things went a different direction. Oh, and Rae Rae isn't either." She stops, blinking again. "I'm babbling. "

"The point is, Red X was messing around with the Titans before. I wasn't a member then. You and Raven were, but Raven is Raven. So I want you to tell me about it. Wanna go grab a coffee or something?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Beast Boy? 'Lette, Beast Boy is incapable of being deceitful." Vorpal stats walking to the cafe as per Colette's suggestion. "... A self-serving, egotistical, attention-hogging inconsiderate little twerp who will charm your pants off and then leave you with the broken pieces while he's off elsewhere? YES." He says this to the general air of the cafe into which they have walked. Heads turn due to loudness. "But deceitful or capable of hurting us? No."

"A Capuccino, please," he says, approaching the counter, and then turns to Colette.

"That's where you don't have the full facts, 'Lette. I wasn't actively in the Titans at that point. I was at the Mansion getting some training for my powers, so I was mostly reserved while I made Dr. McCoy worry that I was destroying the space-time continuum."

He pauses and looks at the barista, who is giving him a rather terrified look. "Just for the record, I'm *not*."

Stardust has posed:
"He totally is. But don't worry, we're on it. Make that two." Colette's follow up doesn't help the barista much. "That's pretty much how I figured," she says as they wait for the coffees. "But I didn't know him very well. He left shortly after I joined. My first guess was an ex-member, and the fact that the Tower is completely compromised reinforced that. But even as little as I did know him, Red X just doesn't fit. Also, I really doubt he would actually stab you. Physically, I mean. Unless he like stabbed you right through the heart. Physically, I mean. So yeah, no. Not BB. But also other stuff."

Although the cafe isn't too busy, the few people who are there are at this point mostly staring. Even in an Age of Capes it's not all that common for two obvious cape types to wander into a cafe and start talking shop.

It's even less common that one of them is a barely dressed demi-feline.

Colette gives one of the more blatant starers a stare in return, the kind of stare that says 'Yes? And?', then turns back to continue in more hushed tones. "Yeah you were there. You wrote a report. Though when I say report, it was like 2 lines. Someone was in the tower, set off the fire alarms. And something involving Raven. So, come on. Nobody is mentioning this. Why? What happened?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"..." Vorpal frowns and takes his coffee, and walks over to one of the tables. He leans back in a rather luxurious pose when he sits at the table, as if to dare someone to say anything as he drinks his coffe, and thinks.

"You know... I had almost forgotten about that. It was so minor at the time. A Goldilocks thing- 'someone's been here' sort of thing. It started all of a sudden and stuff got compromised- like Raven's...er... 'etchings.'" he does the finger quotes. "And then it stopped just as sudden as it started. We never found out who it was, though."

He takes a slow sip. "But Robin thinks he knows who it might be."

Stardust has posed:
Colette looks at her coffee suspiciously before bringing it over to the table. Never trust a barista. They like to draw things in the foam. One recently thought it would be funny to draw an Avenger's A symbol in her coffee. She always looks now. She takes her sit and sits in silence for a few moments, thinking through Vorpal's explanation.

"That's it?" Colette sounds a little disappointed. "I wonder if the others know more. I mean Raven at least does. She almost caught him. He said that himself in one of his messages. Unfortunately, Starfire is a space cadet, Moon Moon, Raven and Robin aren't talking and... maybe Cassie knows something. But yeah. He's been snooping on the Titans, and has had full access to the tower, since last summer. Before I was even on the team. That's why he knows so much. I'm just not certain yet whether he also has the tower bugged, or an informer on the team, or is on the team. I'm not ruling out Moon Moon yet, though he doesn't... well... it... I looked into the... Damn."

Colette facepalms. "I didn't think about the last theft. Too busy with... well that's why we need a detective on the team. It's not... no. I didn't... that's not the point. Look it's not the time..." Colette's eyes defocus about half way through this rant. She's doing her internal dialogue thing again. She cuts herself off with a sigh and a shake of her head. "Does your guy do that too? I mean the cat spirit or whatever he is. Does he talk to you? So annoying. Where was I?"

Colette takes a drink of her coffee, mostly as an opportunity to gather her thoughts. "Yeah. Robin told me about that. His cousin. Bull."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"There's no me and him, Lettie. It's just one salad."

"The Jason thing... You're not buying it? I think it makes sense. Ex-Robin who got kicked out of the Titans for being a jerk, got himself killed and then got resurrected by being put in the armpit of Lazarus. And we know that you come back all deranged from resurrection... and if Robin's Mommy Dearest sunk her hooks into Jason when he was all discombobulated... you don't think?"

Stardust has posed:
"Jason pit what who?" More blinking ensues, but this time it's Vorpal, not her dead internal mentor, that has Colette blinking. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Sip. "Okaaay. So we have different suspects. Robin told me it was his cousin, Mara. Hmm. " Her forehead creases into a thoughtful frown. "Ex Titan... honestly I'd moved away from that, because of what Red X hasn't been doing. Hmm. But coming back deranged and discom... what's that word? It's a cool word. That might just... No. The resources are still a problem. I don't think he gets his resources from the Assassins, because his targets are wrong."

Colette leans back in her chair, kicking her legs, and looking troubled. "It's not impossible. What interests me though? Why he's changed his mind. First he says his cousin Mara, then he says an ex-Robin. What new information arrived to make him change his mind? What makes this a particularly interesting question is that a couple of messages ago, X-Face said something like 'I'm sure you've figured out what your challenge is' about Robin. Which means X-Face thinks that Robin has enough information to know what's really going on here."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Or think he does anyway. Okay. Rewind."

Vorpal begins to narrate, and little stick figures appear on the table to enact out his story.

"Once upon a time, there was a Batman and a Robin." StickBat and StickRobin appear and pose heroically. "And then Robin grew up, grew the greatest butt on the western hemisphere, and becomes Nightwing." It is rather awkward to have an ctual detailed butt on a stick figure, but StickNightwing makes it work.

Vorpal is careful not to say real names as he weaves the yarn. He is speaking quietly anyways, and he has woven a curtain of illusion and white noise between them and the rest of the cafe.

"Now, you know the Robin that became Red Robin, who was the Robin before our current Robin. Well... it just so happens that there was a Robin between THAT Robin and Buttwing."

A little StickRobin appears, glaring at everyone and crossing his arms in defiance. "Well.. that Robin? Got himself killed. It was all hush-hush... but apparently that Robin's body got dug up by the Assassins and resurrected by our Robin's mom. Or granddad. One of those two. See, THIS robin?" he pokes JasonRobin, who growls at him, "Got himself kicked out of a version of the Titans in his time. Nobody could stand him." Pause. "Must run in the family. In any case... that's the background you were missing. So he definitely has a reason to hold grudge, and not likely to be mentally stable. And as for the resources? He was a Bat. He knows how to either build them, or get them. And Robin says that apparently he tried to break into the Batcave. Got driven off by the security systems, though."

He leans back and dismisses the stick figures.

Stardust has posed:
Colette watches the stick figures with obvious enjoyment. "Now that's a cool superpower. And you know, for a stick figure that really is a fine butt. Why are they all called Robin, though? Is Batman really forgetful or something? Also, what's the connection? Because it's not like bats and robins generally fly around together. I mean bats are nocturnal, and so are batmen. So you'd think picking some other nocturnal creature would make more sense. Like, um... Nightjar. Yes! That would be perfect. All the Robins should change their names to Nightjar. We should start a peti..."

Sometimes even Colette knows when her mouth is running away with her. She takes a sip of her coffee, scratches her head, and plays with her hands. If you were to check 'displacement activity' on wikipedia, there would be a picture of Colette. "So this other Robin... other, other, other, other... are there more than four? Well this crazy Robin. They're all crazy, obviously. But this extra crazy Robin, he couldn't get into the Batcave systems. Which suggests he doesn't have unlimited resources, the way he would if..." she stops herself, looks around, then leans forwards conspiratorially. "Okay. Do me a favor? No, I mean do us a favor. Do a little bit of detective work. Look into what was stolen from the bank. The second theft. What actually got taken? Who was the actual victim of the robbery? Will you do that?"

Brick has posed:
There's a quiet Fwoossh! and Brick walks out of a nearby wall as if it were a door. He rubs his forehead with a grimace, and orders a large coffee-and-chocolate-ice-cream sundae made with espresso. A mocha, of a sort. Then he finds the balance point for conversation with Vorpal and Colette and sits there.

"I think the Red X thing has been way too effective on Breath. She's gone nonlinear."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Brick's appearance doesn't surprise Vorpal one bit. It has become a usual thing by now. As Brick sits down, Vorpal adjusts himsself and basically drapes his legs over Brick's lap, so he can lean back on his chair and pretend he's at the beach. He gives Brick an impish grin and then says "Non linear? That's an interesting way to put it. I was just filling Lettie into the troubled history of the Robin, and how our Robin thinks one of his past clones may be responsible for it all. What do YOU think?"

Brick has posed:
"I'm not sure what I think. I'm still gathering data. I decided to do that without resorting to Fourth World technology, which may have been a mistake if my primary analysis is incorrect, but Maire Boit hasn't stopped me yet and SHE gets to use whatever tech she wants."

In other words, Brick has no clear idea. Sherlockery is generally a high-intuition guess justified after the fact, and he's a scientist, not a mentat, dammit.

Stardust has posed:
Colette greets Brick with a nod of the head. Other customers are a bit more startled, but honestly Brick walking out of the wall garners slightly less attention than the half-naked cat guy, anyway. "Heya Brick. Non linear. Good description. I mean I was wondering if it was just me, but there are times when I actually can't make sense of the words she's saying lately. Like I hear all the words, I know what the words mean individually, but I have no idea why they are coming out of her mouth. Also, this whole thing with Robin is creeping me out slightly." She blinks a few times. "Though maybe when she described Moon Moon as a 'jealous wannabe boyfriend competitor' was the point I first started to wonder if someone has been messing with her mind."

Colette takes a sip of her coffee and cants her head curiously at Brick. "Does your mother box ever refuse to tell you things, Brick? Or are you part of the same salad?" That totally made sense if you were in the conversation earlier.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Wait. What thing with Robin? And Moon Moon is competing for whom?" Vorpal asks, raising a hand to indicate 'Stop, Hammertime'. "Clearly I am missing something here?" Which is totally understandable coming from the guy who had to be beaten over the head to catch on that Beast Boy was flirting with him back then. "Fill me in, please."

Brick has posed:
*Ping* ... that was a very smug ping, by the way.

"She's more like my older sister, nowadays, but yeah, we don't share everything. We're separate people after all," Brick says, as his name is called and his milkshake is ready. Cold. Creamy. Fine bits of espresso. Chocolate. It's heaven. He returns with a smile so serene that it would make a Buddha seem jangled.

"Her reactions are worthy of Freudian study," he says after that first strawful melts in his mouth.

Stardust has posed:
Colette raises her hands and waves them to Vorpal in a 'don't ask me to explain' gesture. "I'm not even. I've already warned her off. Just... you didn't notice her following Robin around like a rescued puppy thing? 'cos... yeah. Earth and planet Breath are light years apart at this point. "

"Sisters tend to share," Colette says to Brick. "I mean, does she intentionally withold vital information from you because it's..." she fingerquotes, "'important for you to learn to figure things out for yourself'?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Wait, isn't he like..." Vorpal pauses and then stops, not wanting to think further. He sinks himself into his coffee and then he looks over at Brick, suddenly interested in his dynamic with Maire Boit. "Is that what having a sibling is like? Because... wow. I'm glad I was an only child."

Brick has posed:
"She's not sharing because I asked her not to because I want to see how well I do at this Detective thing. A bet may be involved."

The grin he gives to the Cheshire Cat is unnervingly familiar, though not quite as wide and fangy.

"Isn't who like what? Robin? Fifteen to her nineteen, yes."

*PING*

"I didn't have to, I saw their identity cards."

*PINGPING*

"Yes, it would be, right? New York statutes. Maximum of four years, so it would be down to the months."

*phhnnng*

"Now you know. So, on a completely different matter, Colette, is anything happening on our other venture? I went heads=down into my PhD ... I now have a blessed three months before I start working on the next one."

Stardust has posed:
"Don't. Don't ask that question," Colette advises Vorpal. "Don't think that thought." They are obviously of an accord on this one. "You're lucky," she tells Vorpal. "Nothing worse than smartass know-all overacheiving siblings. However much they deserve it, you can never hate them. Brick will back me up on this." She's caught in a few moments of silent reverie, as a thought strikes her. In the imaginary scales of her mind, one pan of the scales weighed down by that insufferable smartass know-all overachieving brother with the succesful career in law, the other, it suddenly occurs to her, has an admittedly minor yet undoubtedly almost-kinda big league superhero on it. If only her parents knew.

"It's up to us, Brick. They have some intel we can act on. It's not an urgent matter yet. When we decide, we're good to go. There's that marshall someone guy we can call to give our decision to, or ask for more information from.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal shakes his head, "Not helping, Brick, so not helping," he muses concerning the stipulation of age difference, and then he continues.

"The other thing being... that secret society thing, right? I want to make sure I am all caught up to date on the different doomsday disasters we've got our fingers in."

Brick has posed:
"It's the end of the world as we know it," Brick says, and attempts once again to see if he can get ice-cream headache. He can't, but he irrationally wants to because his Dads both have a ritual of drinking their iced coffee too fast.

And, the long slurp ends, and he sighs, disappointedly, "And I feel fine. Darn."

Maire Boit takes this moment to show holographic baby pictures of Brick. He threatens her with being dipped in the mocha milkshake. Yes, loving siblings. Even if she WAS his birth-mother technically.

Stardust has posed:
Colette watches the holographic family album over the rim of her coffee cup. "Wow. Ok, my guy doesn't show my baby photos to the world, which is a plus. But then he wasn't around at the time. Shame he didn't keep that up. " She takes a sip of coffee and puts her cup down, crossing her arms on the table.

"That's right, KittyCat. Secret society numbers seventeen through forty-four. Doomsday disaster number five."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Right, and we need the deadliest Robin for that, don't we?" Vorpal muses. "We should probably talk to him about this once we pin down who this Red X is..." he finishes his capuccino. "Money's still on Dead Robin. We just need to find him. Robs thinks that a Family Associate may be able to find him."

Brick has posed:
"If he's the second Robin, he's very dangerous. He was much more willing to be violent than the ones we've known ... as bad as Angry Bird, according to the fansites."

Brick has the fansites up now, preventing more BabyBictures.

Stardust has posed:
"Uh. My money is still... well. What I said, Vorp. The bank robbery. What did he steal, and who did he rob. Find that out and..." Colette gives a shake of her head. "Well, I may be able to persuade you that there's something else going on here, but let's just say I suspect that the targets of Red X's crimes are connected."

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"And considering he fricking stabbed me and put me in the hospital? It adds up." The Cheshire cat gestures to his torso, where you can still see the scars. "Do you have any suggestion about a pattern tying the victims together, Lettie?"

Brick has posed:
"And how do you suggest we, vigilant people yet without the shield and star, acquire the information about that bank robbery? I could, I suppose, ask a police detective. I'm pretty sure I won't be arrested the first time," Brick grins. Pause. Rewind. Replay. Yes. Cat said Stabbed.

"Stabbed you and put you in the hospital. Seriously."

Brick holds a hand up flat at Vorpal and taps his visor. Fourth World Science because this is checking the cat for ... hm. Well, that's normal. In spring. But enough about that, look at the injury. How well is it healing?

Stardust has posed:
Colette says, "I don't want to say anything right now," Colette prevaricates."I mean I'm still kind of shaping this in my mind. But that will be another piece of it, the actual thing that was stolen. I mean, this is basic detectiving, right? Follow the money. But actually, it's because of Kaldur. He was number two on my original suspect list. After BB. So when I eliminated BB, and then found out what the first thing X had stolen was? Well it made me think. I was on the wrong track there, of course. But I was curious about why he didn't hurt you more seriously than he did. X-face, not Kaldur. Thought about what his motivations are. And why he'd pick those targets, given the thing he hasn't been doing. Like not stabbing you to death. So when I saw a different connection, and it just got reinforced by Gotham Knights stadium thing, well. So. Find out about what he stole, then come back to me and we'll put it together."

Turning to Brick, Colette says "There was a robbery at a bank. Those don't go unreported. There's web sites and stuff. Insurance claims. Newspapers. Police reports, and bee tee dubbleyou, you won't get arrested for asking the police for a comment on a crime, or the jails would be filled with journalists. Which sounds like a great idea now I think about it.""

Vorpal (87) has posed:
Vorpal's wound is healing as well as it could be expected. He hasn't been doing anything strenuous, although the incident at the training room almost caused it to re-open. "Yep, put me in the hospital. Kind of disappointed about not getting the chocolates and flowers you're supposed to get when you're sent there." The cat smirks and slides out of his chair and reaches out to grab Brick's outstretched hand. "No scanning," he says, and uses the momentum to basically sit down on Brick's lap, smirking. "You just can't resist being nosy, can you? For that, your penalty is that you have to work out the kink on my shoulders. Get to." He points towards his back, and then looks up at Colette.

"Well, I am having a very hard time tying up the theft of a royal gem to that of a bank. And you're being mysterious and totally holding out on your hunches, aren't you?" he wags a finger at Colette.

Brick has posed:
Brick smirks and continues the scan so he can locate the worst sore spots, and Maire Boit PINGs quietly, sending what would be considered purple rays if they were shifted into the visual spectrum, deep into the injury. Brick is almost as wide as he is tall, and it's from muscle, which is why he was so easy to misunderestimate when he first encountered Raven. Tense spots have no chance, because Brick will not permit them to remain tightened.

"From the meta=view," Brick muses, "It's entirely possible the jewel and other things are red herrings, especially the Atlantean gem. What if this is a test to see what we come up with on our own given obscure, ambiguous clues?"

Stardust has posed:
"It's not about clues. I mean it's not a message, if that's what you mean, Brick. I'm not suggesting that he's intending to reveal what I think he's revealing in the targets." Colette picks up her coffee, and looks into the cup. "And yes Vorp. I'm holding out on my hunches."

Colette finishes off her coffee in a gulp, puts the cup down and starts sliding it across the table top from hand to hand. "The way I see it, everyone else is keeping stuff to themselves, so clearly I should too." She smiles wryly and shakes her head. "I'm mean sometimes you discover things and you've got to decide what's even right to share. Like how Moon Moon learned how to fight. But in this case... eh I don't know. It's not really a hunch. More like a jigsaw puzzle with lots of holes still in it. You start to see the picture, but you want a few more pieces laid down before you're willing to say it out loud. One thing though, notice how every message from him has mentioned some but not all of us? But always Robin?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Well, it makes sense to me," observes Voral, leaning back against Brick and melting a bit as the knots disappear. He briefly ponders suggesting that the team nominate him as the official massage therapist. "Damian is the perceived leader, he's the only one of us aside from Wonder Girl who has big shoes to fill, nd has more or less taken charge. Anychallenge to the team is a challenge to its perceived leader. And... if it's a past Robin, that sort of does make him a target. Past Robin may see our Robin as an usurper. Psychologically speaking, this could be a ploy to show the world that Robin is the worst Robin, because Robins always pull the team together- isn't that the narrative? If, instead, we all get our sses kicked, that's a total vote of no confidence to Robin. Maybe even a way for X to justify taking Robin out altogether?"

Brick has posed:
"Yeah, I," (small circles with thumbs over rhomboid insertions) "noticed that, and that not all the Titans are involved. Mostly the newer, the ones who aren't Legacy. I'm probably breaking a rule by getting involved myself, as I never formally joined, and I'm several kinds of Not The Standard Thing, with my close attachment to Star Labs."

Brick will probably find it necessary to put Vorpal into another chair or turn him around facing him so he can get proper leverage to liquefy those sore spots. People will probably also stare. Let them. Their cameras won't take clear pictures. Maire's not going to permit it.

Stardust has posed:
"The first four people he named were Star, Vorpal, me, and Robin. Then Raven and Raijin. Then Breath. So, doesn't seem to be as simple as new or old." Colette pulls her phone out, and is scrolling through it as she talks.

"If that's what he's doing Vorp, he's doing a decent job," she says. "This isn't exactly bringing the team together. The opposite if anything. Fighting one-on-one fights is a pretty obvious thing, but it goes deeper... ah, found it." She stops scrolling, and reads something off her screen. " 'Congratulations Raijin. If you are watching this you've impressed me.' Does that sound to you like his aim is discrediting us? That's not the only... I think he said something similar about you." She resumes scrolling. "But. Suppose you wanted to test Robin. Part of his strength is the team he puts around himself, right?"

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"And he is not particularly apt at the social thing, so when his team is in distress, or pulling in different directions, he doesn't know how to consolidate," Vorpal points out. "So, if you want to take him down..."

Stardust has posed:
"...You kill his team-mates rather than patting them on the head and telling them they are good lackeys," Colette says to finish Vorpal's sentence.

Brick has posed:
"Robin is fine with social media, he treats it like any other deadly weapon," Brick says. "Which Titans has he actually interacted with? Actually, not just taunted?"

Brick _is_ listening to Colette's still streaming consciousness, wondering if she's going to try to monetize it somehow. But probably not. She'd have to do something more flagrant to attract the kind of ... people ... who swarm on the filthy piratical seas of the social mediaries.

"Vorp, tell me if this hurts."

The thumbs at base of tail going linearly up along the spine, with side-to-side rocking motions ... like a swedish massage gone terriby, horribly right.

Vorpal (87) has posed:
"Ergrereghffsfffffff..." the sound that comes out of Tommy's throat is something half between a purr, a sigh, and not unlike the sound of an air matress gently deflating. So does Tommy, for that matter, now lening back completely against Brick for the foreseable future, his eyes closed.

"Holy crap, I didn't know I was that tight everywhere..." he mutters, slowly comign back to reality rather reluctantly.

"... What were we talking about?"

Stardust has posed:
"He brought me tea once," Colette offers. "He does interact with... us. You know. I mean when we're not being Titans, if you get what I mean. And I saw him jump to Moon Moon's defence once, which surprised me a bit. Though I guess in that case I'm not sure it was entirely Moon Moon's defen..." Colette raises an eyebrow at the massage taking place at the table. "Are you streaming this, Brick? Because if you are, you probably shouldn't be. I think that breaks all sorts of rules. Fade to black?"

Brick has posed:
"I am NOT streaming this. It's discussing team business, why would I give Red Dead Redaction an opportunity to hear us go on and on and on?"

Brick crosses his arms, holding Vorpal in place like one does with a fuzzy, but not crushing him, because that would undo the good work.

*PingPING*

"What she said ... we're actively suppressing people trying to record us."

A pause as Brick tries to find the thread he was on and pick it up. Oh, there it is.

"So, how have you all seen but not SCANNED him?"