4634/Red X:This Time, it's War!

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Red X:This Time, it's War!
Date of Scene: 12 June 2018
Location: Unknown
Synopsis: Planning is happening. Schemes are hatched. It's time for the Titans to turn the tables on Red X.
Cast of Characters: Stardust, Brick, Raijin, Breath




Stardust has posed:
One of the nice things about your headquarters being situated on its own island is that you've got a nice area of private land which isn't indoors. That's very handy when, for example, you want to try out some power that might damage the building. Or if there's a mysterious package that may explode.

Or if you think the team has been compromised, and you want to have a meeting without being overheard.

Colette is scheming. And only certain select members of the team are going to be allowed to hear her schemes. Rayner and Brick are the two members of that select group who are in the tower at the moment, so they're the ones who get the message. 'Meet me outside, by the fallen tree.'

When people show up, they'll find Stardust sitting on the branch of the fallen tree, talking to herself. That's not too unusual. She insists she's actually talking to the voices in her head, which may or may not be true. Less usually, she's not speaking English. Or French. "Io intep kai l'quanta mein. Lu'quan... liu'quanta... do I really have to learn this? Isn't there some kind of translator thingy I could use? I mean we've got Google translate, you'd think that... fine. Liu'quenta." For anyone who knows Interlac, she appears to be learning how to order drinks in alien bars. Useful.

Brick has posed:
*PING*

"Really? Why would she be ordering a Sex on the Beach in Interlac? It sounded more like Esperanto Four to me."

*PING*

"OK, you're the expert." Brick taps on his left bracer and a low-frequency hum begins, scrambling any number of listening devices and tricks.

"So why are we here?"

Raijin has posed:
Rayner had been summoned as part of Colette's scheming and he arrives with a tilt of his head. A blink of his eyes. "Hey Colette...what the hell are you saying?" he asks curiously, having simply walked over to her -slowly- as to not draw any attention s to what he was doing. Either way, he tilts his head at her, resting against the fallen tree next to her.

"Is it alien?" he asks curiously, before Brick arrives, giving the fellow a two finger wave.

"I think she'll get to that in a moment." he teases the fellow lightly, looking back to Colette. "Everything alright?"

Stardust has posed:
"We are here, Brickster, because it's time to deal with our little problem. Past time." Colette hops down from the tree when the others arrive, and walks forwards, gesturing the two closer as she lowers her voice. Despite the scrambling, she's trying to keep this quiet. "And as one of our members is..." she glances up at the tower, "...intimitely involved with Red X, and two others are keeping secrets about him, we're doing it here where we can't be overheard. Those three are Damian, Raven, and Moon Moon. Nothing I say here gets to them, okay?"

"Yes Rainman, it's alien." Colette punches Rayner on the arm, not hard. "Sorry you got... well sorry about your injuries. Should have moved on this faster. Should have gone with my instincts. So basically, here's the thing. Red X has been setting the conditions all along, and we've been going along with him. He's setting things up so he has the advantage in each fight, so going along with him is dumb. We change the rules. All the 'no interfering' stuff is a bluff. We're going to interfere so hard he doesn't know what hit him. Next one-on-one battle is not going to be one-on-one. We're going to capture him. Without hurting him too badly, for reasons which... well. Take my word for it. You two in?"

Brick has posed:
"What specific tech do you need? I offer this every time, but nobody's taken me up on it."

Brick scans the area, and picks up a small piece of bark chip near the tree. He crushes it and smoke comes out.

"That was broadcasting on near-field, which makes no sense whatsoever."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner is punched in the shoulder, but of course it doesn't hurt! Instead he offers Colette a kind smile, leaning in to hear what she has to say. "...I had a feeling." of course, he already suspected Damian and Moon, but he had no idea Raven could be involved as well. With a small sigh, he nods lightly. "Don't worry about it Colette. I healed alright." he smiles lightly to her, giving her a playful shoulder nudge.

"Works for me." he agrees easily to the sound of that music. Oh yes, capturing Red X and still putting the hurt on him? Absolutely.

Stardust has posed:
"Full sweep of the tower and island please Brick," Colette says. "Locate any bugging devices. But I suggest rather than removing them we avoid tipping them off by leaving them in place for now. At least that way we know where to avoid. Beyond that... any way you can do some surveillance yourself, in a way that won't be picked up by any regular, or better than regular, earth tech? I'd like to know what arrangements are being put in place at the Gotham Knights Arena."

That, of course, is where Red X has arranged for the next battle. With Breath. Speaking of..." she pulls out her comm and quickly taps in a message to Breath, asking her to join them. "Only my intention is that Breath won't be the only one there. We all will. The trick will be to stop him from running when he finds out. Which I have an idea for."

Breath has posed:
Breath comes down. And by that, she means she jumps off of the roof and does a half-controlled winged fall, then stops herself with somewhat less jet propulsion noise than usual over a fairly long approach in ground effect, hitting ground at a run nearby and wandering over to you.

"Hey, what's up? Did someone say my name or something?" She looks around, smiles some, and comes over to see what's going on. "I was just trying to think of some ideas what to do.."

Brick has posed:
"I've been scanning the island ever since this started, Lettie. So far I've removed about one-third of them because it's unreasonable that we would NOT find any. And yes, I have the place bugged with something I cooked up myself, since we figured out the location."

*PING*

Brick laughs at that. "OK, you figured out the locations, whatever."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner nods lightly to Colette. "Sounds easy enough. Gotham Knighst Arena huh? Makes sense. He can't prepare for all of us at once. A suit can only ahve so many modifictions, after all." Plus, he noticed that Red X was just ANNOYING since he was always prepared no matter the circumstance in accordance with his opponents powers. It instantly turned the tide in his favor before it even began. A pain in the ass more than anything.

His eyes shift to breath as she arrives. "Yo. we're just talking. Feel free to join us." and he crosses his arms, as if in deep thought.

Stardust has posed:
Colette nods her head at Brick. "Good work. When this is over, we remove the other two thirds, and return to sender." She breaks out into a grin as she contemplates the possibilities.

"Breath." Colette gives her a wave. "We're planning things. We're going to lay a trap for Red X, at the Gotham Knights Arena. Where you're meant to be fighting him."

  Colette steps up to Breath and looks her up and down. "I need your clothes, your boots, and your glider."

Colette stands there stony faced for a moment.

"It was better when Schwarzenegger said it. Also I don't need your clothes and boots, just your glider. Red X sets up each fight to go to his own advantage. The Arena will be set up to give him the most advantage fighting you, Breath. Open top so you can't build up too much wind pressure. I wouldn't be too surprised to find wind breaks being set up conveniently around the field, too. He's picked an island for me. An anomaly. But it's out of town and nothing around to get damaged. Which means he can really cut lose, which is what he'll have to try against me. So I'll take your place. He can try fighting me in a place he's set up to fight against you."

Colette takes a deep breath, and steps back again. "We need to avoid him cutting and running. With Breath's glider, I can be there without tipping him off. When he discovers it's me, he'll be pissed. Which he already is, but more so. He's annoyed at me 'interfering', and this will up the stakes. So I'm prepared to bet he'll give it a try even when things aren't set up in his favor. And when all his attention is on the fight so he can't be paying attention to what else is going on? That's when I send a signal to the rest of you. Then we get a boom tube and a rabbit hole and Rainman doing a zippy lightning speed end run to get him surrounded."

Brick has posed:
"I'm going to give you a solid-light disguise so you can look more like Breath. Who gets one to look like you," Brick says. "They're only good for a half hour before they burn out, so don't waste them. The projectors take a year to grow."

The plan sounds like it should work, but he needs a bit more failsafety.

"Breath, Rayrunner, you get one free techno-trick, beyond the holojektor."

Breath has posed:
Breath nods. "Oh, sure. I dunno, what did you have in mind? I'm kind of ticked off at them myself." She arranges herself and sits cross legged in a seat, tilting her head and listening. "Pretty good for 'gadgets', sure. But you know, I never thought there was anything wrong with gadgets." Hmph. Still some twinges of protectiveness. Bah.

"Sure, I have some spare wings. Do you want me doing anything while this is going on? I have some stuff I want to say to them."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner keeps his arms crossed, listening to Colette's plan. "Not a bad plan." he compliments her. "Though how about you say a signal and I pin him to the ground using my speed as an advantage? that way, we won't have to worry about surrounding him, we can just take him out." he smiles softly before he looks to Brick. A tilt of his head. "Rayrunner? that ones new. Don't give Letty nickname ideas." he chuckles.

Though he looks to Breath with a light smile, as if he knew she likely had five pages worth of monologue ready to go. Looking back to Brick, he looks confused. "Techno-trick? What's available?"

Stardust has posed:
"Solid light?" Colette looks thoughtful. "That has possibilities. I'm not sure it's necessary for me though. I'm a few inches shorter, but..." Her outfit suddenly blurs into a milky swirl and reforms itself. Bodsuit, gloves, cowl, a sky-blue skirt and boots. Suddenly she's dressed just like Breath. "I figure when I'm in the air, he won't register the height difference. When I'm on the ground, it no longer matters. What do you guys think? Don't want to waste one if it takes a year to grow."

"When I give the signal Breath, you all move in. The key here is to not give him the opportunity to escape. He'll have more than one escape route planned, count on it. So I'll get him out in the open, middle of the field. Breath, you'll be our air cover. Anything that attempts to fly in to pick him up, you encourage to fly away again. I suggest a Rabbit Hole one side, Boom Tube the other, with the team split in two. As soon as you're in, Raichu, get behind him. Not try to pin him. Once he's surrounded, then we can all jump him."

Brick has posed:
"What do you want, Fast-feet Freddie? Gravity grenades? Sonic bomb? Taser tar-babies? You're the fast guy, you must've had some moment where you wanted a thing but didn't have it. Same for you, Breath. Anything that works with your powers is good."

Brick looks a bit relieved at not losing his holojectors though. And maybe a high speed paper airplane folder that can make projectiles for her to use... someone once said a sheet of paper in a tornado can cut through a tree. It's a bit of an urban legend but still, the idea is good,

Breath has posed:
Breath nods, "Wreck the sky, check. I'd be shocked if that's not already covered just because he's prepping for ME, but the angle is going to be different... Is there any chemicals that we can use to mess with his day? I mean, I can suck up mustard gas clouds all day, I just don't know how to use it that won't tear everybody else up."

Raijin has posed:
Rayner then //sighs// at Colette's new nickname for him, but he chuckles. "Okay Starla." he teases her by making a nickname of her super-name as it were. Alas, he seems conflicted. "Makes more sense to just bombard him. If we all attack him at the same time, then all he ahs to do is dodge and we wall run into each other like one of those crappy cartoons." he says witha shrug.

His eyes fall upon Brick. "fast fre- nevermind." he chuckles. "hm...A gravity grenade could be cool." he smiles like a kid at christmas to Brick before he looks to Breath.

"Just unleash. we'll be fine."

Stardust has posed:
"You know," Colette says with a slightly bemused expression, "I'm gonna say let's skip the mustard gas. I mean releasing mustard gas at a stadium sounds more like what the guys we fight would do, hmm? The point here is to overwhelm him. He can't be prepared for all of us. That means that we don't attack him in any one single way that stops the rest of us also attacking him. And remember, capture not kill. And no serious injuries, either. " She smirks a little. "Don't forget Breath, you have some stuff to say to him. Him. That would require /him/ being alive and vaguely conscious. Actually Brick..."

Once more Colette's mouth moves a little too fast for her brain, and the change in tack and person she's addressing precedes her turning her head. When she's facing Brick, she repeats the name just to be clear she's talking to him rather than discussing building supplies. "Brick, I might have an idea for those holograms. Something to talk over with Vorp though, as he's Mister Illusions. You two can be our psychological warfare departments, but.." she glances momentarily at the other two. "Well, we'll talk about that when the Cat comes back."

Colette fishes her backpack out from behind the fallen tree, and pulls a tablet out from it. With a few quick sweeps, she calls up an aerial photo of the stadium. "Look," she says holding it out for the others to see. "The key thing is stopping him from getting away. So, we get him out here on the field. When I get to...roughly here... "she jabs her finger at the center of the field, "I send a signal. Brick, that's something your tech would be good for. Mini flare gun or something? We don't want to risk it being jammed. Then we get around him... here, here and here. If he has any sense, he'll make for an exit. But that means going through one of the groups. We want bulk in each group. Brick and Breath, Vorp and Cassie. Rayner behind, me in front. Whoever he heads for, delay, block, hold until the rest catch up. Alternative is he goes up or down. So Brick, that preliminary stealth surveillance job? Check for any trapdoors. If a helicopter comes to pick him up, Breath blows it away. If he has rocket-powered jet boots, the fliers cut him off. Sound good, or anyone have something better?"

Breath has posed:
Breath makes a face at Rayner. "You aren't really making a girl feel very capable here, dude." She hmms and thinks, looking that map over. "Do we have any plans for illusions or decoys? I don't know that he would decoy, because that just gives me more ammunition, but you know. Anything he puts down is going to be solid and heavy, or light and full of crazy."

Brick has posed:
"Plan seems sound to me. Appropriate level of detail so it won't fall completely apart at first contact. I'll get to work on the extra devices, if you don't mind," Brick says.

*PING*

"Oh yeah, one more thing. All of you think about what would happen if he expected us to do this. How would you be most easily redirected into the other ones' path. And then don't do that."

He steps backwards and there's a FWOOP! as the fwoop-door opens and he falls through to the place on the other end.

Raijin has posed:
Rayner tilts a head at her and he blinks. "Would you prefer I say 'breath and wreck everything in sight?'" he asks as a legitimate question and not a sa form of sarcasm. Though he looks to Colette as she speaks, as if curious as to her plan. He's fairly okay with this, actually. "Works for me." Then he looks to Brick.

Gravity greeennnaaaaaaddeee!!!

Sweet christmas! a smile. "Exactly." he agrees with Brick. "Sounds like we might be concluded? It's a pretty solid plan."

Stardust has posed:
"No decoys to worry about, Breathy. I'm going to fight him a bit before I call in the cavalry," Colette points out. "That will ensure we have the real thing to deal with. Unless there are four of him, which is not impossible. But we just need to catch one."

Colette flips her tablet back in her backpack, then smiles, claps her hands and rubs them together. She picks up her pack with a nod of her head and slings it over one shoulder. "Yep, I think we're concluded. I've got a couple more details to hammer out, and I need to talk with Vorp and Cassie. Breath, I'll grab the glider off you just before time. Annnnd... pizza? Starfire's not around so we don't have to worry about mustard." She glances at Breath. "Only mustard gas."