HELL-O VORPAL

Summary:
<22 February, 2015>: The Titans meet with Raina for information on the Brotherhood's plans, and then there's a trip to Tokyo.

The Titans' Underground Base

Shhh, super secret!


Characters

NPCs

  • Raina

Mood Music:
Hell-O Kitty


The Brotherhood was planning to create their mayhem in the waters upstream of New York several months ago, but some careful covert action by the X-Men Red Team (insert flashback here to scene that happened off-screen, so nobody can deny it) was successful in that it dried up their supplies of explosives, and in the current days, it takes a little time to amass sufficient kaboom… except that with the freak storm that's been stuck into the sky by a pissed-off, cranky Atlantean mage with overcompensation problems, it's getting to where the amount of explosive needed to make a disaster happen is much smaller.

For that reason, apparently, Gar's found a note from Raina asking for a meeting, and he's called the Ice Nerd and asked him to show up, preferably without demons or unexpected hitchhikers of various natures. Expected hitchhikers, he can call ahead.

"Hey Keef, I've summoned the cold shoulder, and made some mac-n-cheese with hot dogs, Raina said it was her favorite cheap trashy dinner. You want some too?"

"Sure thing," Keith says with a smirk at the food combo. "I could grab a bit of chocolate pudding to complete the ensemble."

The redhead is wearing an old pair sweatpants and a sweatshirt, casual housewear. Putting away the paperwork for his job application, with a mental note to get the thing finished and turned in at the campus by Monday. "Any idea what this meeting will be about?"

Bobby knows because Gar told him. It's been one thing and another lately but with everything going on, Rhi's information could be critical. Also… he should probably mention to Gar and Vorp that the trail lead to Tokyo. It could be important. And they may decide to go.

The girl is waiting in the downstairs guest quarters — which are really quite nice, without any of the sense of being trapped in an underground missile silo one might expect. The food is welcomed, as it's better than the sort of slop that the Brotherhood cells would put together on no budget — Gar uses real cheese, for one thing. There's a moment to pause and eat.

Gar is just having a sandwich and some soup. Today is a Not Big Meal night in the Castle, for no good reason. And Mr. Logan's recounting of the morning, when he went shopping and was mobbed by PETA because eating meat was bad … until he turned into a lion and chased them off, with one of them yelling 'FUR IS MURDERING US' at him. Not quite. He didn't murder anyone.

Keith follows Gar after getting a helping of puddin' for everyone. "Do you think chocolate goes with mac and cheese and hot dogs?" Pointless question. Chocolate goes with everything. "You know, I've never really understood how the Brotherhood operates. I mean… can't they see they are only making everything worse for mutants?"

"No." Rhi responds as she eats. "The just blame it all on you. Or the government. Or 'sellouts' like the X-Men." She shrugs. She's very Pro Mutant, but blowing up a dam to kill innocent people was the line with her.

Bobby knocks on the front castle door. Mentally, he calls it 'the Drawbridge'.

"Anyway, thanks for dinner." Rhi continues. "Didja want something?"

"That's just what the outsiders said about the Suffragists," Gar observes. It may or may not be a valid equivalence here. Too early to tell, really.

"Then again they were careful about never hurting anyone at all… whoops. Hang on."

He races upstairs, being part cheetah for the purpose, and arrives at the door to open it, because Keith is Keith at the moment, not Vorpal. That means he might get a chance to answer it himself this time.

"Hey. Need you to do a chat with Miss R. She said she found something new, and asked me to call you over."

"The suffragists? I'm reading a comic book about Emmeline Pankhurst and her jiu-jitsu bodyguard suffregettes-" Keith trails off as Gar races upstairs, and turns to R. "Er… you'll have to excuse the green Flash. He likes it when he can answer the door. Soo… how do you feel about puddin' with your food? I figured it was worth a try…"

Rhi just stares at Vorpal. "It's um. It's tasty. Thanks." Really, purple puddin' cats are beyond her purported purview.

Bobby gives Gar a grin. "Thought that might be the case. Lead on oh mighty green leader of the fathers of the gods. I'm just sayin if you ever name a child named Athena or Zeus you deserve what you get."

"Athena sprung fully formed and fully armored from Zeus's migraine-impacted head, because he got Metis pregnant and wanted to protect her from Hera, goddess of punishment so he swallowed her and she lived in his divine sinuses. Or something," Gar says. "When Wonder Chick was part of the earlier group, she had all sorts of different stories, most of them contradictory. It was cool." Like bible camp for pagan kids and Miss D was the best counselor ever. But that's then. This is now.

The path down is short and to the point a right at the door, a right at the wardrobe which turns out to be a sekrit elevator, a left out of the bottom and a left to go into the operations area, and a right to go to the guest suites.

"Hey guys. Rhi, you said you had information you wanted to give to Bob-the-Ice-Nerd. Do you want us to leave, or should we hang around for moral support?"

Less than enthused about the reception of his pudding, Keith adds, "Or I could bring some fruit, too, instead of the pudding." He nods. He does have a bit of the Perfect Hostess syndrome, where he wants all guests to feel at ease

Not an easy thing with a political asylum guest, but… "And hello, icicle. Long time no see."

"Heya Vorp. Or, as I overheard Gar calling you one day, Cheeseburger. What's up with that man?" Bobby grins as he walks in and waves to Rhi.

Rhi waves back. "You two can stay. I'm telling secrets but it doesn't matter to whom as long as you do something. So, the Yakuza contracted to provide explosives for the plot, except I don't think that whomever did it was entirely on the up and up even for a criminal. As in, I'm fairly sure they were going behind their posses back. Mister Fukanaga, that is. I did a little digging and it turns out he's supposed to work for the Tatsu clan. I suggest that you contact…"

"… Kimiko." Bobby finishes for her. "Yeah, my own research suggested the same. What makes you think he wasn't authorized."

"The payment. He wanted it tranferred into a different account than the one we usually used for dealing with him."

"OOoh," Gar says, picking up some pudding and digging in, while listening to Rhi discuss Japanese Real Life Crime Drama. He has no idea who Fukanaga-san would be, but he has heard a bit about Kimiko on the #whatWasThatPerson threads on the HeroWatch site. Yes. He looks at HeroWatch. It's more useful than expecting one's friends to say what's going on, after al.

"Is this a road trip? Do you want some Distractions?"

"So funds are being diverted and people are not playing straight. So the Titans go to Japan, then?" Keith grins, "I can get us there in… um. What's the math, hon?" he looks at the green man.
5r

"Depends on whether or not we want to go there the fast painful way or in a series of careens through the sky," Gar answers. "Or we could see if Danny wants to visit Osaka during the New Years celebrations. You should see what he looks like strung up with Japanese lanterns and covered in red streamers."

"When crooked people don't play it straight, you know something's up. I couldn't risk digging deeper myself. They were onto me by then. So I contacted you." Rhi says, digging into the Pudding.

Bobby nods slowly. "Titans help would be welcome. I'll be bringing a couple X-ers plus Nancy and Sho. I'm not sure you've met Sho. We'll try to catch Kimiko and the others in the Tatsu clan. I'm not sure if I'll be able to count on Magik for this. She's got a lot of problems closer to home right now and… er… she's not exactly a charmer, so having another portaler handy would really help." And of course Gar is always reliable for smooth talk.

Smooth Talk used to be anybody BUT Gar, and now he's leveled up. So he watches Keith as he tries to imagine Danny in the Street-equivalent of kimono celebrating New Year, and nods at the list of names. "Never met Sho. Who is he or she?"

"Gotham street lawyer who used to be active in the Tokyo vigilante scene. He's good, though talking to him is a lot like talking to a fortune cookie." Bobby smiles. He does think Sho would be good for the trip though. For his insight into Japanese culture and his connections. Also, the man's a friends.

Rhi takes another couple of bites. "Brotherhood's starting to get active there. The Oni District in Tokyo's a hotbed for them. Sort of like M-Town here. The Japanese are a bit more accepting though so… there's less domestic trouble."

And the thing about the Oni District — that's a total puzzle to Gar. He's been in Japan once or twice, as a tourist ostensibly, and unless he appeared in a full-on costume, he was ignored, or to be more accurate, shunned, until someone, usually a teenage girl, recognized him and made high-pitched noises that only dogs and Gar could hear, and then her exuberant, incomprehensible excitement would identify the strange green person enough that they could put him into a context that worked, and he was tolerated as long as he didn't go outside the 'visitor supa heero stah' role. But it's been maybe eight or so years, and things may have changed. Right?

"How long has Oni District existed? What was there before?" Gar wonders out loud.

Keith is imagining the reaction t Gar in Japan. Especially if that 'Titans anime' is still going on. You know, the one that sued the previous team for copyright infrigement? Gar might get trampled by fangirls.

Not if he had anything to say about it.

"It would be handy to have someone who knows the layout…"

"It would of course. I'll contact you both when I'm getting ready to go over. It may be a few weeks. I'm still waiting to see how this whole Atlantis thing will shake out." Bobby glances up, as does Rhi.

"Er, speaking of, not that I'm not grateful for being sheltered, but is there any chane I won't have to live here for the rest of my life?"

"A valid question! You could apply to join the team. Or, if being a costume-ridden superhero doesn't work for you, there might be a program that the X-Men might be able to help with. We have just the safehouse, with you and V… That guy, here, we have two of three spots full," Gar says. And smoooth talker almost blurted out that someone was here, who might not want people to know where he was.

"BUT, while you're here, wasn't there something about the dam not needing as much explosive with the huge amounts of water backing up behind it right now?"

"We could always use an extra hand on the team. And it would be very important to have someone who stands for mutants. We Titans have a full public relations team, and it we could easily help…" the redhead looks at Gar, almost blurting things out.

Gar had leveled up. Mostly. But sometimes-

Rhi smoothes it over. "I'll think about it. My power's not… flashy. But maybe it could be handy. Or…" She frowns and shrugs. "I'll think about it. And yes. If you demolish the dam right the weight of the water will bring it down for you."

"Which is why," BObby says. "It's important to follow up on this in the near future. I think their other lead was a bust, so they'll have to go back to the Yakuza."

"Flashy and useful are two different things, Ri. I'm flashy, but not useful most of the time." Keith grins, and then raises an eyebrow at Bobby. "So that's it, then? We're going to Japan?"

Quick glance at Gar, "No Godzilla. No Gamera and no Mothra," he says, anticipating, "Or so help you god, Garfield Mark Logan." But he says it with a smile. "Are we going visibly as a team or are we going incognito?" Getting Gar to be incognito wasn't too hard, he could transform into something small…

And, of course, Vorpal could always disguise his green boyfriend through the power of his glamours.

"Flashy isn't necessary, just interest. You've mostly seen us around here, training or being goofballs, like Keith right now, but yeah, if you're interested, by all means. We just don't really have a way to get you into a more open protection program, like the Reds do, and I'm sorry we didn't think to ask if you wanted to join first."

The Changeling frowns, having been chastised about something he wasn't going to do at all (this time) (unless someone asked) (or he felt like it.)

"That's a good question. Are we going to be going to be distractions or fellow coverts, Ice Bob?"

"Berto was going to get us over there on a business related reason. So not a whole lot of media really. As for you guys, maybe you should think of a nice, flashy reason to go over there." Bobby's just musing now. "Media attention can be useful if you know how and Changeling definitely knows how… also, I hear Vorpal's a thing there." Now he's grinning.

Rhi is too. Slightly maliciously.

"He's a thing here, too, but not for teenage girls. Yet." Gar smirks and takes another serving of pudding. Keef can always be counted on to make too much of the stuff, which means 'enough'.

"I'll see if Lisa can come up with any good reasons for us to be in Japan. It's so nice having a professional to offload that hard stuff to."

Keith gives The Hairy Eye to Gar. This was his boyfriend's revenge for mentioning the Bonobo incident, wasn't it? "… then who am I a thing for, overe there?" he asks, very very cautiously.

"Surely Tokyo needs titans. Hey, maybe you can do a recruiting drive there." The ice nerd grins. "Thanks for the info Rhi. I need to head back to the HQ. You two sticking aorund here or…?" He stands and looks about as Rhi waves.

"Don't mention it."

"Just make sure Rhi has an option available for getting to somewhere that the Brotherhood don't go after her," Gar says. "That's your AR from this meeting."

Gar then turns to smirk at Keith, and says to Rhi, "Could you open a browser to www.HelloKitty.HelloVorpal.jp? There are some art pictures, someone needs to see."

Keith narrows his eyes, looks at Gar and then looks at Rhi. "… what is this website?" he says, very much in the same tone of voice that people reserve at the dentist when they ask 'this isn't going to hurt, is it?'

Rhi does so, waving to Bobby as he makes his exit. She turns it around with a slightly malicious grin. "Was this what you're looking for Gar?"

"Like a drill without novacaine," Gar says. There's series of four or five different images gathered with the final one, which looks very much like a Chibi Keef sitting next to a Chibi-er Vorpal, which has been tagged as being "Vorpuru from Titans".

The redhead stares for several seconds, absolutely speechless.

When he was a kid, he often dreamt about being famous, about 'making it' and being known abroad. Somehow, this feels… very different.

"Okay, I've changed my mind about Godzilla," he says, tongue placed firmly in cheek, although in this case it might be to keep himself from throwing up.

"There's a good reason to go," Gar says, grinning. "They're going to be doing the next season of Teen Tai Tans and they're probably going to start making cartoon versions of all the team. I think that means you, and Misfit, and Robin The Red, and probably Vic and maybe Rhi if she's on, and Zee and Rain and who have I forgotten, I'm sure I've forgotten someone."

Not Raven. Raven was asked not to return to the studio, rather forcefully, after something involving the use of a Soul Self to retrieve the writer/artist pair who thought she should be southern and blond.

Rhi is starting to laugh, so much so that she's actually slightly losing control of her power. Which as it turns out is causing things to corrode at an accellerated rate. Like the table behind Vorpal. Well, the metal in it, at any rate. "Oh, oops. I…" Giggle. "Sorry, can't… too good…"

"That's okay, Rhi. These aren't the worst…" Keith could point Rhi to some sites. But he won't, because he doesn't want to scar her… and because Gar would get too much of a kick. "C'mon, let's go to the rec room and eat some of this food. Gar's punishment for that website will be to make us an actual dessert. I won't make him wear the French Maid outfit. This time."

He sticks his tongue out at Gar and grins.

"Let me guess, they said you HAD to be named Rusty, right? No you don't," Gar says to Rhi. He's not perturbed by her power. He was on a team with a mummy who expelled his radioactive ghost dead twin brother, to fly around and do his bidding, with a woman whose elasticity was slightly more eloquent that Reed Richards and who he could call Mom, with a guy whose brain had been stuck inside a robot body, and with a random collection of other people with more or less bizarre powers. Hers, not so bad.

"OK! Actual dessert … whatever doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right?"

Gar is sure there will be something he can make into dessert in there. The question is, will they be hungry again by the time it's done.


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