Owner	Pose
Damian Wayne	New York City, One World Plaza, the temporary home of the Maelstrom Opal. A beautiful blue opal that seemed to swirl deep into itself. The jewel was acting as a cultural ambassador of sorts from the kingdom of Atlantis.   A mechanical claw reaches towards the jewel and plucks it off its stand. As it retracts, the visible grid of lasers can be seen, and behind the glass is a masked face, in the shape of a skull with a large red X gouged out if it. The pilferer places the opal in a compartment on his belt, and starts to make for the exit, a small sigh from Red X as his challenge seems to have gone unanswered.
Vorpal	"I always appreciate a man who knows how to handle his opals." The voice comes from everywhere and nowhere at once, clearly ehanced by illusion magic. Until, suddenly, there is Vorpal, leaning against the air.. or an invisible wall (quite convincingly, so it is either illusioned or he has amazing muscular control). The Cheshire cat passes something swirling and sparkling across his knuckles the way a streeet magician might do with a quarter. "You gotta be quick, though, before someone else gets there ahead of you..." he snatches the jewel from his knuckles and holds it up between the tips of his thumb and index finger. The Maelstrom. Should Red X take out the jewel he pocketed, he might noticed that it looks almost identical... except that it is somehow less lustrous. Slightly cheap-looking, even. Vorpal didn't want to bother dealing with the security system... what was the point of replacing the gem with a duplicate, when he could simply *enchant* the gem to look like a slightly flawed duplicate with his illusion powers, and the duplicate held in his fingers could look like the real thing with just a spell? "I'm not uncvilized, however. I'm always willing to share." He grins.
Damian Wayne	A modulated voice emits from the helmet. "Funny, I thought you weren't showing." Red X reaches for a pocket on his belt, removing a device, and clicking it. The device kills outgoing signals within a radius.   Where the Cheshire Cat looks coy, Red X looks at ease. "Do you wag your tail when angry, and growl when pleased? Have you truly given into the Cat, or what semblance of humanity still lies within you?" Red X reaches for a pocket, and extracts three X shaped shuriken, throwing all three at Vorpal.
Vorpal	The wall-leaning bit turned to have a purpose after all, as the cat lets himself fall back and onto his back, the shuriken passing a breath from his nose. As he rolls to the side, the opal rolls in the opposite direction, and he curses under his breath, getting down to a crouch and judging whether he has time to pounce on the jewel before Red X gets to it. "Wht makes me wag my tail is not your concern. If you had wanted to find that out, you would have simply swiped right instead of going through all this trouble."
Damian Wayne	Vorpal would have enough time to pounce the jewel, should he choose.   "Your deflection only seals my conclusion further. What do you say? Are you human, or are you the cat? Did you lose your grip on humanity when he left you?" The tall, armored soldier makes a slide towards Tommy, attempting to land kicks on Vorpal.
Vorpal	The Cheshire cat does a backflip that looks completely effortless, to try and get him out of the way, followed by another. If he manages to get enough distance, he will look for something to perch upon, to gain height. "Not one word about him!" He hisses and narrows his eyes. "I will not be given lessons in humanity by a pathetic stalker. Have you raided Raven's underwear drawer by now? She's going to eat your soul for it."
Damian Wayne	Red X pounces up after he whiffs the kicks. The stalker jumps towards Vorpal, sharp fins on the outside of his forearms attempt to rip at Tommy's chest and stomach area.   A series of tornado kicks follows, all the while Red X keeps goading. "Beast Boy left a void. And now you feel more separated from yourself than you've ever felt before. Less like you and more like the chaos your namesake embodies. What is keeping you from going over the edge?"
Vorpal	Vorpal's attempt to get height is interruppted by the fins, which tear into Vorpal's spandex and, also, his chest and stomach. Predictably, the blow causes enough instability that he cannot properly defend himself from the incoming kicks, being buffeted against the wall during Red X's verbal assault. He finally breaks free with a roll, though he slips on his own blood as he attempts to stand and ends up in a crouch. His eye vile with fury at this point, and his customary grin is now a snarl. "Going over the edge?" he growls. "You first." He opens a Rabbit Hole in Red X's path, attemping to drop him from the ceiling and onto another Rabbit Hole that will catapult him against one of the walls.
Damian Wayne	Red X had dropped through the rabbit hole, quickly falling towards a wall, on which he only jumps away from after a rough landing. A quick jump from the wall before Red X attempts a quick flurry of punches. "Finally!" At the end a quick whine can be heard from one of Red X's gauntlets, where a PEPS shot is sent towards Vorpal. A small stun shot of electricity would give the Cat a paralyzing shock long enough for Red to come back in to grab Tommy, lifting him up and dropping him face first to the ground.
Vorpal	Tommy isn't thinking clearly, obviously, otherwise he would have chosen other tactics. By the time he is shocked and paralyzed, he is thinking even less. When he hits the ground face-first, he can feel his nose breaking, and blood gushing from it. He's already blood-stained from the gashes across his chest and abdomen. He lays very still, still enough that he could be easily dismissed as being unconscious, until the cracks appear. Under Tommy's body, there is a bright flash of purple, and cracks appear across the floor in an expanding spiderweb pattern. The cracks begin to glow. Muscles twitching, the Cheshire cat pushes himself up from the ground, not enough to stand, but enough to sit on his legs, and it becomes obvious that he is the center of that pattern. His face snaps up to look at Red X, and the swollen, bloody nose isn't the feature that draws the eye- it is the eyes that are now two purple lights, glowing brilliantly. "oFf wiTH hIsssss hEAD!" And a pulse of pure chaos magic erupts from Vorpal, and the area around Red X and the Cheshire Cat becomes... malleable. Space becomes conflicted and indecisive, the floor rises and falls like an ocean, challenging equilibrium, and distance becomes redefined from moment to moment- the room might require an hour to walk across, stretching into apparent infinity, or just a few steps a second or two later. "YouU wanted the edge, little sSsoldier." Vorpal beginss to stand and unsheathes his claws, which now appear as long as knives and about as sharp, "... I will sSsend you PossStcards from THere!"
Damian Wayne	Red X's mask pays attention to the changes, taking moments to adapt to the new environment around them. "Yessss."   Red X flicks his right arm, a single blade drops from the gauntlet. He seems to be ready for a knife fight. For the moment, X is taking a defensive stance, allowing The Cheshire Cat to make the first move, in attempts to deflect those razor sharp claws.   Metal scratching against claw, only sounding more deadly, the person underneath the armor was smart, biding is time until he could see an opening where he could strike in for a win.
Vorpal	The Cheshire Cat growls low, narrowed eyes two slits of purple light, but he doesn't move. He remains in a crouch, riding the undulation of the ground as if it were the most natural thing in the world for him. He resists the urge to pounce, and intead he decides to test the armored equipment. The bucking floor will help in this, as the Cheshire draws up his illusion magic to summon the illusion of the spinning tunnel, aimed at the amrored soldier. Tommy is hoping that the vertigo that the illusion often brings, combined with the floor, might lead his opponent to toss his cookies inside his helmet-- though Vorpal suspects that that mask has the option to go infra-red to shut out any potential distractions. Guess he'll find out...
Damian Wayne	Red X makes a motion with his sword hand, taking a moment to adjust his mask. "Well played, Cat, but trickery will not do you any favors." X jumps forward, taking swipes at Vorpal three times.
Vorpal	As Red X jumps forward, Vorpal reaches out to try and grab a hold of his wrist, risking getting swiped by the blade, but seeking to immobilize it, if for just one second. "There'sSs SsoMEthinG yoU dOn'T knOoww..." he says as he closes the distance. "HoW MaD *AM* I?"
Damian Wayne	Damian's fist is stopped for a moment, and the question is processed. "That, is the question I wanted the answer to." He responds, the voice manipulator working its function. "You took him as your vessel. Did you not?"
Vorpal	The Cheshire cat's eyes narrow further. "TheRe IS no veSsel!" this was the opening he was looking for. The Cheshire cat activates a power he hasn't used very often- the Chaos Wave surges through him and into the armored hands. He doesn't know if this will work or not, but if he manages to briefly animate part of the armor to fight against its owner, it can buy him some time. "PuNch yOUrseLf!" he commands.
Damian Wayne	The Chaos Wave makes Red X's gloves work against him, since the suit is attached to the gloves, the gloves lead Damian to hit himself on the chin, the only saving grace from that is the helmet protects his face. Twice more from either side, Red X's Head turns with the punches. He stumbles, falling down only momentarily before he takes a smoke pellet from his belt, cracking the glass vial down. Red X can see full well in the smoke, and Damian back handsprings twice, giving them enough distance again. "A new power, it will serve my needs." Red X takes a moment to gather himself. Taking refuge in the shadows above. "Not a vessel? Then what? Chaos incarnate? Definitely not human." He taunts from above, his voice being thrown to all sides.
Vorpal	The smoke causes Vorpal to cough, and he backs away. He could become invisible, but he is certain that mask has infra-red, and he'd be found in a second. And the assailant is gone. Vanished. "Human *iS* chaOS," the Cheshire cat says, and suddenly the room is filled by an impossibly intense light, which vanihes quickly, only to leave behind a mushroom cloud in miniature, hovering over a spectral Hiroshima before the illusion disintegrates into glowing particles of light, and then nothingness. "It'S NoT Sso bAd to NoT be HuUMan. If I am Not." And Tommy smirks, "ANd Whether I am or not ISss not your businesSs." His voice is regaining a measure of balance. If that mask has infra-red, then it probably also has enhanced hearing, for detection. The Cheshire nonchalantly raises his hands to his forehead and, with a quick movement, pops two earplugs into his ears from a compartment sown into each glove, because the first time he tried this he ended up dizzying himself. The phantom sound blasts through the room with a deafening ferocity- the sound is like an electric guitar that mated with a banshee and produced an aural offspring that wailed like an angel who just realized he was on the wrong side. It's his approximation of what he has heard Black Canary produce... of course, this is just the deafening sound /without/ the devastating concussive force, but he's trying to force the sneaky guy to reveal himself, not to tear down the exhibit hall.
Damian Wayne	Red X watches the theatrics with a smile underneath the helmet. The use of infra-red is essential to the ninja. He notes the use of earplugs, quickly cutting the helmet's enhanced sound. The result of which, merely saves Damian from the secondary effects on his inner ear. He cannot hear anything over the sound of the sonic attack.   Red X makes two X-shuriken ready, releasing one that flies true, but the second is thrown to make a u-turn after zooming towards Vorpal.
Vorpal	His reflexes might have ducked the shuriken, had he heard it coming. His ears would have picked up the sound and he would ha leapt by instinct alone- perhaps not well enough to avoid being hit, but it would have been a greater chance of evasion than standing still and impervious to sound. He sees the Shuriken coming, all too late to staart evading. He is fooled by the Shuri-boomerang, leaping away from it only to ensure that the second one hits him. There's a strangled cry, and the Cheshire cat drops to the ground, all effect ceasing immediately, with the room returning to normalcy in the blinking of an eye. Vorpal is curled up on the ground, one hand cluthing the shuriken but not yet daring to pull it out, his breath short due to pain and weak from the loss of blood he has incurred so far.
Damian Wayne	Red X drops from the shadows above, his boots dampening the sound of his footsteps.   "You did much better than I thought you would, Vorpal." A quick reach for his belt produces a hypo, a mild field cocktail of antibiotics and low strength painkillers. He quickly jabs the hypo in Vorp's thigh, delivering the medicine to the downed hero. The needle is placed back, before he removes the shuriken. He then places it back in his belt, disengaging the signal jammer, which promptly sets the alarm in motion. "Emergency services will be here in two minutes." He then removes one last item, a disc. "Take this to the others." He says, dropping the disc next to the cat. "Say hi to the camera!" He says, waving to the surveillance camera, now reactivated, before one last smoke pellet is thrown to the ground, concealing Red X's exit.
Vorpal	"I.. WilLL... fffind YOU you Sonofa-" the Cheshire winces, and makes an effort to focus on his interlocutor, but is not terribly successful. The combination of blood-loss nd the fast-acting painkiller make it very hard to focus, or to think straight. The last thing Vorpal is conscious of is the disc as it clatters to the ground. After that, his eyes close, and the rest isoblivion.