6013/One of Our Robins is Missing.

One of Our Robins is Missing.
Date of Scene:	18 December 2018
Location:	Gotham City
Synopsis:	Stardust and Robin talk. Some degree of clarity is found, but no bargains are struck. Honest.
Cast of Characters:	Robin (Wayne), Stardust

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Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Gotham is your best bet for finding a Bat, or Robins for that matter. Even if there were no indigenous robins in Gotham proper. Damian had been racing and weaving in and out of traffic, in pursuit of a mob group that had been pushing the latest club drug in Gotham. He took out the pushers, and these people had ties to the supplier.

  Robin was on the Redbird, zooming to get closer to the oncoming car, a small turret on the motorcycle was giving covering fire to Damian, if someone popped out, they'd get pelted with rubber bullets.

  The neon of Gotham streaked by as everyone was trying to get out of the way, some GCPD officers were trying to keep bystanders away from the street, but the highway was definitely not deserted.

Stardust has posed:
    Gotham was the easy part. Trying to locate a particular Robin in the busy streets of Gotham is harder, but ultimately all you really have to do is go wherever you see a police car speeding and you'll find him eventually. It's not too much of a challenge to find him, which is lucky, because Stardust's other option was visiting Wayne Manor, and that could raise awkward questions. She'd probably have done that anyway in a few more hours, but the high-speed chase was getting a lot of interest from the GCPD, so she'd lucked out pretty quickly.

    Stardust looks down from above. It's easier getting past the officers trying to keep the crowds at bay when you're eighty feet above them, though she does notice a pair of GCPD helicopters approaching in the distance, and a few GCPD drones overflying not far from where she is. She briefly considers trying to call up Robin on the T-Com, but she dismisses the idea quickly. He hasn't been answering for a while, anyway.

    Besides, there are more fun ways to do it.

    There is a loud BANG as something red, white and metallic crashes into the hood of the mobster's car at speed. It bursts, spewing a foam of liquid. A second hits the ground just by the driver's side window, a miss. Dark brown liquid and white foam sprays violently across the road. A third takes out the rear window, the liquid bursting inside the car. The mobsters are being bombed with... cans of cola?

    The cans are followed by Stardust herself, dropping down from the sky to fly over the roof of the car. She gives a wave towards Robin as she descends.

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     The cola cans get Robin's attention, looking up at Stardust as she bombs. He was without a helmet, because of course he was.

  He motions to his teammate to descend to him. "Pick me up." He yells, already setting the Redbird to autonomous pursuit mode. It would provide him the covering fire to do what he needed. He held up his hands and knew she could do what he needed. "Throw me into the back window." He would comment, once she picks him up.

Stardust has posed:
    Stardust lets a quick nod suffice for acknowledging the request. She punches down, adding another dent to the car and giving the occupants something to think about before quickly peeling away from it and arcing back over Robin. As she flies she slings the backpack she's wearing over one arm, the grabs Robin around the chest with the other, and when he's secure, she turns around in the air so that she's flying backwards towards the car, looking over her shoulder, and sheilding Robin from any incoming fire with her body.

    Just before she catches up with the car, Stardust yells "Get ready!" and lets her backpack drop from her arm so it dangles by one handle from her hand. Putting on a momentary burst of forwards speed, she spins mid-flight, swinging the backpack around in an arc to crash through the shattered remains of the rear window, showering the interior of the car with thousands of tiny cuboid fragments. She keeps turning with the motion until the backpack has come out the other side, and Robin is now facing forwards, feet towards the window.

    "Bombs away!"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     As Robin is released, he slips in the back seat, taking out the back thugs with his boot as he enters.

  Quickly he grabs at one of their guns, an MP5, and shoots it off into the console. The hot barrel pressed up against the driver's temple and Robin growls. "You won't do it. The Bat doesn't use guns." The driver comments, and Robin inches closer to the driver. "Do I look like the fucking Batman to you? Stop the car!" The last two mobsters do as follows, the driver slows the car, and the Redbird stops alongside the black sedan.

  GCPD not far behind, the sirens pierce the air as Robin drops the gun, along with the driver on the ground. "Good work Stardust." He comments, giving the driver's wrist a zip tie.

Stardust has posed:
    Stardust comes to a halt beside the stopped car and helps with the clean up, making sure none of the car's occupants go anywhere they shouldn't while Robin zip-ties them one at a time. She's not gentle with them - nothing that will cause injuries, but they get swung around and shaken enough to keep any thoughts of running or fighting out of their heads. She grips the arms of the last one rather tightly as he waits his turn to be cuffed, and takes a moment to snarl in his ear "You're lucky. I'm a lot less merciful, but he was here first so we did it his way."

    With the last of the goons out of her hands, Stardust looks over towards the nearing GCPD presence warily. She tends to avoid talking to the cops; if this was New York she'd be speeding skywards about now, but this is Robin's town and the Bat folks have something of an understanding with the GCPD. She'll follow Robin's lead on this one. "No problem," she says to him. "I'd have called ahead, but you haven't been answering. We need to talk."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin was hardly dainty with the baddies. But they complied with him, so he showed a modicum of mercy. The last one ziptied before the GCPD shows up. "Sergeant, I'll be back for this one." He points to the front passenger. "He will have the answers to where the supply of Fever is coming from." He says, turning everyone over.

  Robin turns to Stardust and nods. "Follow me." He states, grappling to a building high up, far away from prying eyes, he grapple to a ledge, large enough to sit on, and he does.

Stardust has posed:
    Stardust can't quite hide the smirk at Robin ordering the sergeant around. The NYPD wouldn't be so accomodating, they keep complaining about paperwork and statements. Batman obviously has this lot well trained.

    Stardust joins Robin on the ledge, taking the easy route that flying allows. She opens her backpack up and looks inside. "Fuck." She holds the bag out over the ledge; it's dripping. "Lost my last bottle of water. I should get one of those metal bottles cyclists have." She tips the bag, letting most of the water escape, before setting it down next to her and turning to look at Robin.

    "So." It's about thirty seconds of quiet staring before she starts to speak. "What's going on, Damian? People say you're kidnapped, but you don't let us know, so I figure it's either some scam or you had your bat-bros dealing with it. Then you come back, and say nothing. Then you gripe about the newbie. Then you vanish again, and switch off your com. Then you tell me you're sending another newbie. So now we have three newbies to break in. And a distinct lack of glorious leader. So. So?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian slides over his canteen, under the large round buckle of his belt. He himself opens a small nutrient bar, and splits it, offering some to Colette. If she were to try it, it tastes somewhat...synthetic, not fully great. "Damian Wayne was kidnapped. I couldn't get out a message while still keeping my cover. It worked though, those involved will be dealt with." He says, chewing on the spongy bar, looking towards the city. "If I tell you the truth, you're going to think I'm a terrible person. And maybe I am, but I want you to understand this isn't something I came to without thinking about it."

Stardust has posed:
Stardust takes a swig from the canteen and passes it back. She takes the half nutrient bar with a quick "thanks", takes a bite, makes a face, but continues chewing. "Don't worry, I already think you're a terrible person. That's why I like you." She flashes him a broad grin, that annoying half-way signal that says she's joking without actually quite saying it.

    "Scratch that," Stardust says. "If you /don't/ tell me, then I might think you're a terrible person, but if you do I'm pretty sure I'm not going to hear anything that surprises me that much. I've got a pretty decent idea of who you are as a person by now, Damian. I don't think you're gonna shock me, but on the other hand, how can I give you the kick up the ass you clearly need about it, if you don't tell me what 'it' actually is?"

     Stardust takes another bite of the bar, a smaller one this time, and chews unenthusiastically. After a few thoughtful chews, she tilts her head to look curiously back at Robin. "Seriously? You were actually kidnapped? Huh. Well I guess your civilian identity is a pretty obvious target. Don't you have some kind of panic alarm?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "I do, the woman who took me...jammed every cell tower around the university, so my panic button was useless. They were professional, or she was. The other two were about to kill Damian."

  The face Colette makes garners a guffaw from Damian. "It's no confit du canard, that's for sure. But it gives you the carbs and B vitamins to keep going as hard as we do, and protein to satiate hunger. It's not all we eat."

  Then the moment he wouldn't get to take back. "You know when Raven sent everyone away for twenty seconds? She kept me there. And reamed me a new one. She mentioned that my actions could result in Autumn's death..." He takes a moment to compose what he's thinking, something that he struggles with. "I realized two things. One, that the sentiment was reciprocal. My main issue with Autumn is that she allowed herself to be without the lynchpin of her power, as she went off world, to their base planet. If the same thing happened and she ran out of charge mid mission, she would endanger her own team. And she didn't realize the gravity of that."

  He drinks from the shared canteen, a practice he would normally abhor, but he was trying to be nice. "The second, I didn't care if they died." It was simple as that, but he knew it was damnable. "When you've killed as many people as I have, you have no true issue with the concept of death. It just is. Everyone dies, some sooner than others."

Stardust has posed:
    "All that bat-technology and the full forces of Wayne Industries at your disposal and you can't come up with a bar of carbs and protiens that tastes nice?" Stardust asks with a short laugh. "You should get them working on that. 'The energy bar of heroes!' would be a great strap-line for the commercials. They'd make a fortune."

    Damian's explanation is listened to closely, his team-mate apparently in one of her rare moods to think and consider before offering her extended views on the subject. "She went off world," Stardust counters, "Because she needed to be trained. You're worrying about a mistake she made before she received that training. Of course, what's important is to make sure she doesn't go on making mistakes. But that's kinda why we have this team, isn't it? We're all young. And aside from you... maybe Raven, I'm not clear on that yet... none of us joined the Titans as the finished article. You should be focusing on what she could become as a Titan, not on what she already is. The question here should be, what could a Lantern become, with the Titans, and with /you/ helping her to become it?"

    The last part gets a more considered response, and Stardust speaks slowly as she addresses it. "Facing the reality that everyone dies, sooner or later, is not the same as facing the death of a particular person. Suppose this was a different team member you're discussing, say me or Vorp. Would you care then? How about Nightwing, or your father? Still wouldn't care if they died?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "It's repurposed from a new military ration. Funny enough we are kind of like a test market for it."

  "She was a lantern long before she went off world. When one of your main edicts is to not allow your power battery to be compromised, and you fail that. I seriously doubt the potential there." Robin is very much serious at this instance. "I know what you're trying to get at, Stardust. But I don't have those feelings...at least not like everyone else has." Robin's face never changed, looking at Stardust with a straight face. "When I got to Gotham...I had a friend. He was kind, and knew somehow what I'd been through, made me feel like I was okay." He clenches his fist, putting that fist on the ledge. "But everyone else...says something's wrong with me."

Stardust has posed:
    "I put the three of them in the danger room," Stardust recounts after a moment's thought. "Gave them a talk about how it was well named, that it was dangerous and could actually hurt them. Put them in a sim I've been working on based on our trip to Knowhere, set up so nobody would attack them. They needed prompting to actually be a team rather than three individuals in the same place. But they didn't screw up, and pretty soon even started thinking about covering each other. How good was I when I first joined, Robin? You don't need to answer that, because we both know. They're fine. And with help and experience, they can learn to be better than fine.

    Stardust leans forwards, a hand either side of her on the ledge, peering down at the streets below. "You ever seen a really old film called 'The Third Man'? Black and white. Orson Welles. There's a scene in that were Welles is sitting in a ferris wheel, looking down at the people below. Kind of reminds me of that. He has this speech, goes something like... 'Would you really care, if any of those dots down there stopped moving, forever?' He's playing a bad guy. But he has a point. It's easy to care about everyone in the abstract. To care about the concept of people. But anyone who really, genuinely /cares/ for seven billion dots is probably pretty messed up."

    She looks back up to Robin. "There is something wrong with you, though. Me too. And everyone else. That's really not the issue. Let's deal with the fact that you're not exactly being honest with me, and probably yourself. So you don't care about someone you just met. So what? Doesn't mean you're incapable of caring. You going to tell me you'd just shrug your shoulders philosophically if I..." She shrugs her shoulders. "Put a bullet in the back of Vorp's head? Broke Batman's legs and pushed him off a roof?" There's a short pause. "Smashed Abaddon against a wall?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian turns his head sharply towards Colette, specifically when Abbadon is brought up. That would tell her exactly what she was looking for. "You leave my cat out of it." He says, probably a bit more pointed than he even wanted to be.

  "I stabbed Vorpal in the gut, don't forget that." He comments, lest we forget about Red X.

  Robin keeps watching the dots of light down there, shrugging. "I'm not as attached as the others are..." This was true, at least to Damian.

Stardust has posed:
Stardust grins a little at Damian's reaction to her mention of Abaddon. "You know there's not a chance in hell I'd do that to Abaddon. Possibly to someone who hurt him. I think I made my point though. So much for not caring. When you look closely enough, the dots turn out to be people. Or cats. That's when it's appropriate to start caring about them. Or hating them. Not when they're still just dots. As for Vorpal's guts..." She raises an eyebrow and shakes her head. "I'm not fucking blind, Robin. Or did you forget me catching you secretly waiting outside his hospital room, wracked with guilt? That's all besides the point though. Your job isn't to care about the team as individuals, it's to lead it. Caring about them comes, or doesn't come, with getting to know them. Not getting them killed isn't about caring about them. It's about caring about the team. What we are capable of becoming."

    She turns away and looks out over the neon-painted streets of Gotham. "If you think you're not up to the task, you can always ask Batman to send us another Robin. He'll be disappointed with a fifty percent failure rate, but what can you do. I wonder what Nightwing would have made of the raw materials you have at your disposal. I mean we've just got a super-strong mutant, a Lantern and a Nova. Can you just imagine what this team could be if those three could be hammered into shape? Give Nightwing this team to work with for a year and we'd be the guys the Justice League calls in when the going gets tough."

    She turns back again to look Damian in the eye. "Funny, I really thought that it would be you who'd pull that off."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "You're forgetting one important part. Nightwing got to choose who he worked with. I didn't." Robin points out. "Two Assassins, one who hates the other. A mage who seems to hate everyone. A cat who is the epitome of strange, and a..." He gestures to the whole of Colette. "With a deplorable excess of personality."

  Robin, nevertheless, keeps saying. "I don't trust her, Stardust. I just don't. At least Amarok is...Nevermind."

Stardust has posed:
    "At least Amarok is a League assassin," Stardust finishes for Damian, not caring if she's surprising him that she knows. "And you don't trust him, either. Because he looks at you and can only think of your grandfather. But you /understand/ him. And that lets you stay on top of things. Raven you don't understand, if you think she hates everyone. She doesn't hate us, she just pretends to so that we don't get too attached to her to be able to bring ourselves to kill her if it's the only way of stopping her Father breaking through to our world. As for Nightingale, well you're right not to trust her. And she's a Purple Lantern. Don't let the talk about love fool you. Love isn't flowers and chocolates, love is dangerous, powerful and unpredictable. You'd be an idiot to trust her before she's proven herself. "

    Stardust leans back and stretches. "Well. No, you didn't get to chose. But if they don't prove themselves, they can be sent away. So maybe it's more of a challenge than Nightwing faced, but are you really going to walk away from that much potential because it's a challenge? That doesn't sound like you."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian raises a brow, looking to Colette with a bit of scrutiny. "You tread a fine line, Stardust. But you have a point."

  "No complaints, from anyone. This is going to be hard on each of you, and by the end of it, you will all dislike me even more. But we will be a unified force." He comments, keeping his eyes focused on Colette.

Stardust has posed:
    "I don't tread fine lines," Stardust replies. "I kick them out of the way. And forget it, you'll get complaints. Listen to them before you decide they are wrong. Ask people you trust for a second opinion. In your own words, you stabbed Vorpal in the guts. Don't forget that. You have more experience of... a lot of things, than the rest of us combined. But you're not perfect." She says all this looking out over the city before turning back to Damian, returning the gaze.

    "You can tell me if I got this wrong. But every Robin has been in the Titans at some point. Lead it, apart from uh, whassisname, the one that nobody liked. And when I attempted to dig into the background of the Titans, everything I found out about the company that funds us is... empty. Meaningless. Shot in the dark, it's a shell company and your father is behind it. Which makes this kind of a test, doesn't it? A proving ground, but also a learning experience. How to be the one who leads rather than the sidekick. If you really want to pass that test and prove to him what you're capable of being, then crying off because Nightwing got dealt a better hand isn't the way to go."

    There's another shrug, and Stardust turns away again. "Second shot in the dark. You don't like the fact that things are changing. You've gone through massive changes in the last couple of years. Your whole life turned upside-down. It's natural you'd want some stability. When you joined the Titans, you basically treated us all with contempt, but you've got to know us, become familiar with the team. You know that even if you can't entirely rely on us, you know us well enough to know what you can and can't rely on. The Titans has become something familiar, something stable. And you hate the idea of that changing. I don't blame you for that, but... life is change."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian watches, growing more and more irritated. "Everything cannot be a democracy in a team. Not some hippy commune with a drum circle."

  "You expect me to take a team of...that and turn it into a better force than the Justice League. Regardless of what may or may not be my father's setup, even he believes in what I can do." The youngest Titan crosses his arms, steaming a bit from the ears. "The time away from the tower has taught me at least one thing." He comments, scanning over Colette to judge her reaction to the statement.

Stardust has posed:
     "I never said it should be a democracy," Stardust responds. "But the people who you expect to follow you aren't going to if they don't believe in you. And if they think you're too pig-headed to even listen, they won't believe in you. If you recall, I recommended Vorp as your sounding-board, not a drum circle. The cat is flightly, but he's also damn smart. In ways you aren't necessary as smart as you think. "

    Stardust gestures down towards the ground, where the GCPD can still be scene milling around as they deal with the captured gangsters, and putting off thier next call as long as possible. She nods to Robin and gives a grin. "You know, we make a pretty good team. That was smooth. They had no idea which way to even look until you were right in the car with them. But then, I believe in you too. Which is probably why. I mean, it's probably why I trust your calls rather than trying to second guess you. You can't just expect people to believe in you off the bat, they need to get to know you first. Like the rest of us have. So no, I don't /expect/ you to do that with the Titans. I /believe/ you can do that with the Titans. The rest? That's up to you. Prove me right, or prove me wrong. "

    Peering back down at the police, she gives another shrug and asks, "Go on then, what have you learned?"

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     He nods, thinking back to the sequence of events that happened tonight. "You're correct. That is what I can do with the right people. But not everyone is fit for it. You and I work easily together, same with Raven and Vorpal. Amarok..."

  With all of that said, Robin looks up at Colette. "That right now, the Titans need me more than I them."

Stardust has posed:
    "True." Stardust's agreement comes very easily. "You have one of the best in the business as your father and your mentor. Years of training. Almost unlimited resources. None of the rest of us have any of that. You could walk away from the Titans right now, and put all your effort into being the best Robin you can. Then one day, into being a Batman who truly lives up to the name."

    "And you'd have still been a failure." The criticism comes as easily as the agreement. Though the sentiment may be harsh, there's nothing harsh about the way she says it, it's all just matter of fact. "Because either the Titans will become what you know they have the potential to become without you, and it'll turn out that for all your expertise you're just not that important. Or the Titans will fail, and all that potential will be wasted because you didn't even try. "

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Robin stands, looking to Colette. "That is your bargaining chip? Either conform to us, or do not and be a loser? It does not sound incentivizing for me."

  Robin finishes that nutrient bar and continues. "I am not so easily manipulated that you can just threaten me with an epithet and expect me to curtail that training that you hold in such regard."

Stardust has posed:
    Stardust leans back, looks up at the stars, and laughs. "Bargaining chip? Oh, you've got this all wrong, Robin. I'm not here to bargain. Don't you think I'd be a little more diplomatic if I came here to bargain? Or at least sent someone in my place who's more tactful? Yeah, right. Go ahead, leave the Titans. Give me the excuse I've been looking for to do the same. "

    Turning back to Robin, Stardust shakes her head slightly. "I'm not here for the Titans, Robin. I'm here for you. Because you're my friend, and I'm worried that you are making excuses to yourself to take the easy way out. Which isn't like you."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "You sure as shit could have fooled me with all the talk of teamwork and inclusiveness." Robin comments, of course, he sounded pointed. "So, we are at an impasse. What to do with it, is the question. You know you could not leave, hardly any more than I can."

Stardust has posed:
    "Pretty sure I talked about potential, not inclusiveness," Stardust says with a shrug. "I'm not recommending taking everyone off the streets. A good team needs cohesion. Trust. Inclusiveness is for the drum circle, and we agree on that one."

    Stardust drums her fingers on the ledge, pausing a moment in thought. "I could leave. I'm not a Robin. I don't answer to Batman. I don't have anything to prove. I could hang up the mask, nobody would really care outside a few of you on the team. I wouldn't feel guilty about it, you know. What I've done already this last year and a half, that's more than anyone owes the world. Well."

    Stardust folds her arms in her lap, and looks down at them. "Apart from the fact that I seem to like you guys. That's the real kicker. That... and the thing that would have been the bargaining chip, if I was here to bargain. Raven. I mentioned that earlier. I'm not sure what to do about her. And I have a supicion that her solution would turn out to be a huge mistake."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "What else explains the lantern? All the talk of love and bullshit. That mixed with what I had witnessed...No." Damian points out. "And the voices in your Head would allow you to just give it up?"

  Robin sits back down, placing the canteen back into his belt. "At least Raven does not put up a wall of falsehoods and pretenses. She will keep things from us, but I much prefer that over this talk of love conquering all and" He sticks his finger in his mouth, making a wrenching sound. "You can do ANYTHING with love." The last part mimicked in Autumn's voice, as easily as Damian can change his voice to match anyone else's.

Stardust has posed:
    "The voices in my head can complain all they like," Stardust points out. "They'll get bored before I do. They've kind of sort of admitted that, honestly. Well, with a lot more talk about being 'worthy' and things like that. Comes down to the same thing. They're passengers, it's not like they have a whole lot of choice in the matter. You should hear what they have to say about purple lanterns, though."

    In the streets below, there's the whoop of a siren, but it's just the GCPD finally exiting the scene, criminals in tow. Stardust watches them depart, flashing lights glinting on the rain-damp road. "Nightingale actually believes all that crap. Raven's the one putting up a wall of falsehoods, with all that posturing about how she barely tolerates us. The voices though? They said the same thing as you, when she turned up. Purple Lantern? Hell no. Those guys are trouble with a capital T. I talked it over with him, and he talked it over with some of the other voices. Their consensus was that Purple Lanterns are unstable, dangerous as hell, but powerful, and at least they're well meaning. Better to have one close, where you can keep an eye on them and direct them in the right way, I guess."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     Damian smirks, he quite liked Ash when he spoke to him. "If you say so. But my vote is still no."

  "Not much on convincing, but you at least make a somewhat good proposition." Robin states, looking to Colette. "If I have to be in the Titans, you sure as hell do too."

  "By the way, that Nova...reminded me of you, somewhat. That's why I invited him." Robin offers, grabbing at his grapnel, but not shooting it off just yet.

Stardust has posed:
    At the ultimatum - that she has to if he does - Stardust bursts out laughing again. "Who's the one offering bargaining positions now? Look. Remember those Apokalyptian guns? How dangerous they were, and how some of them are even more dangerous because they have tech in them which is like... I forgot what Brick said. Susceptible to some kind of interference. But we kept a few items, because you never know? That's kind of how I see Nightingale. Dangerous, but if we can find a way to have her be a benefit... well, it's worth trying. If she doesn't work out, we just boot her. Simple."

    Stardust sees the grapple gun come out, and gives a nod of her head, apparently accepting the action as Damian method of saying 'seeya.' "Reminds you of me? Huh. I won't ask, it'll probably be insulting." She flashes Robin a grin. "Getting a Nova is quite something. Nuala gave me the impression they were keeping away from Earth. They may have changed their minds. Anyway. I'll see you at the Tower, Robin. Let's get the newbies out on patrol some time, see what they can really do."

Robin (Wayne) has posed:
     "The Titans need us more than we need them." Robin comments, aiming and shooting the grapple. "I'm dangerous, she..." He just shakes his head. "I don't know. And that is what worries me. Nova...not that Nuala. This one is much different. And it was a compliment, believe it or not."

  "I will be there." He says, before he starts feeling in the grapple and flying off back into the night patrol.