14891/Lost and Frowned

Lost and Frowned
Date of Scene:	10 May 2023
Location:	One of Jinx's Places, New York City
Synopsis:	Jinx, Colette, and Cait go to fetch Jinx's piece of the occulus infinitum but run in to trouble when they encounter some HIVE drones there first. HIVE gets away with Jinx's stored piece.
Cast of Characters:	Jinx, Caitlin Fairchild, Colette O'Connail

---

Jinx has posed:
A run down apartment complex in the shady part of the Bronx. That's where Jinx has brought Colette - and Caitlin because she's a responsible adult. "Kate said she'd meet us here I think..." Jinx explains as she pulls the lever on the old freight elevator circa 1990s.

The engines wirr and the clunks shake the cage as it is pulled up to level 4. The wooden door is open, clear evidence of kick marks on the wood and the hinges slightly broken. Jinx frowns and creeps forward, peeking her head around the corner.

The thumpy noises coming from inside she spies are caused by two guys all in black with ski masks on turning over furniture and pushing over paintings. Plural - this is more stash house than home. Vases on plinths, artworks stacked up against each other. It's crowded and everything in there is worth money. But these guys - they're looking for something specific.

Jinx peeks her back and whispers to the two of them, "... Ironic as it may seem, I think I'm being robbed."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
The status of the elevator makes Caitlin nervous. Not because she's in any real danger, but because things have a tendency to break when she walks on them. And, as an engineer, she can identify the precise source of those strange noises and make a pretty good guess as to what the problem is.

Spoiler: the main lifting gear has a few broken spokes. Not a safety issue /at all/.

She's also dressed expecting things to go slightly-less-than-smoothly. Good rugged Carhartt's and a sensible button-down shirt look like they were worn with the possibility of getting dirty in mind. No Sunday best for the redhead today.

"That's not really ironic, that's just coincidence," Caitlin tells Jinx, and steps past her towards the two interlopers. She picks up half a broken masonry brick and cradles it loosely in her right hand.

"Hey! Who let you in here?" she demands of the two burglars. Caitlin's voice may not have that note of effortless command that some people possess naturally, but she certainly can be loud enough to make their ears ring.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette is busy with her phone the whole way up, and through the hallways to Jinx's apartment. Hideaway. Stash house. Whatever it is. Obviously some vitally important conversation on Whats App, or an even more vitally important session of trolling someone on Twitter. It's just a fetch mission, right? Off to pick up an Oculus thingy.

    She has however already proven her value on this mission by driving Caitlin and Jinx to the place. That's her job. Other people can do other things, she's done her bit. She's got a nice car, and unusually for something so sporty it's not even too bad for Caitlin, though she probably would have found the leg room awkward if she was driving.

    Colette snap-points Caitlin when she disagrees about Irony. "Correct," she replies, whispering along with Jinx. "Don't go Alanis Morissette on us here, Jinx. Don't worry, Caitlin can deal with it. She's a superhero you know."

    With that, Colette proceeds to hang back, leaning against the wall to continue her flame war or whatever it is. All action here.

    Unlike Caitlin, Colette is not dressed for things going less than smoothly. Fancy jeans, a smart blouse, ankle boots that have a heel which render them less than ideal for running around. That's probably why she's hanging back and not getting involved. Sure, it's as a good a reason as any.

    "They probably let themselves in Caitlin," she yells out down the corridor. "That's what burglars normally do. You're a superhero, you should know this stuff. Punch 'em through the walls first, interrogate later!"

Jinx has posed:
"Naw see it's ironic 'cause of all the shit I stole that's in there.." She thumbs at the doorway that Caitlin has just gone through to announce herself. She nods to Colette as she declares Caitlin a superhero. That's a very superhero move to just boldly stride on in.

The first of the robbers looks up and stares at Caitlin in surprise, "Your mom." That's his comeback. He draws his gun and aims at Caitlin. "Is that her?" The other one says, "Nope." Then with a click a wall panel opens and he snatches out a leather sash. "Got it. Let's go... deploy it." The first replies back, "But you said that's not her." The second shrugs, "Who gives a rats."

He smirks behind the balaclava and then taps a button on his wrist device. Jinx has her ear to the wall as she's listening to the conversation going on in there. "Deploy it?," she whispers to Colette with a look of confusion on her face.

That's when she feels it - sensitive as she is to bad luck - a wave of it bursts out of a small device in the center of the room hitting Caitlin, Colette, and Jinx. That 'sinking feeling' that something bad is about to go down.

As the two robbers start to back off to the fire escape, there's a *crack* and the elevator they came up in snaps from its gears and tumbles four stories down with an all mighty CRASH.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin stops, then scowls heavily. "It's not nice to aim guns at people," she informs the criminals. But with Jinx and Colette still behind her, she's not immediately willing to escalate to throwing down with the gunmen. The redhead would probably be fine, but a lead injection would definitely put a crimp in Jinx's summer plans.

The redhead shrugs uneasily at the feeling of oppressive, imminent doom sneaking up on her. It's a creepy sensation. But, she's not one to pass up an opportune moment, and winds up a softball pitch with a form good enough to get her a walk-on with any D1 college team. The chunk of brick goes flying at the gunman's wrist.

Miraculously, he moves his arm at the last second. The brick sails past him, carrooms off a metal post, and shatters a window on the way out. Out in the street there's the sound of breaking glass, someone hitting the brakes, and a car hitting something.

"Ooops," Caitlin winces.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "That's still not irony," Colette replies to Jinx. "Just poor security. Should have rented a secure vault and left the valuable stuff there. "

    This is why she's not a Titan. No criticism for Jinx having stolen goods in the first place. It's not like it's /her/ stuff that Jinx stole, after all.

    Colette glances back to the elevator with a sigh, and finally puts her phone away. "Somehow I guess this dump doesn't have another working elevator, and we're going to have to take the stairs?" she asks.

    Colette is relatively unaffected by oppressive feelings of doom, because after all the universe is going to end one day, so what does it really matter? On the other hand there are sounds outside of cars hitting things, and that's far more immediate. "That better fucking not be my car," Colette growls. There are in fact things that she cares about!

    Something moves in the hallway near Jinx and Colette. It's not clear what, but the lighting seems to change slightly. Colette turns to walk away, though nobody's mentioned which direction that staircase is yet. Not that this seems to matter, because having taken a single step, Colette vanishes.

    Second later, Colette's voice can be heard outside the building, yelling at the driver of the car Caitlin's brick hit. "You better fucking be insured! This is the worst attempt at parking I have ever seen. What the fuck is wrong you?"

    Mere yards away from where Colette is yelling at a stunned driver trying to come down from an adrenaline high after having a brick go through their window and then crashing into an expensive-looking parked car, the two gunmen are racing down the fire escape. She's aware of them there, but at least for the moment isn't doing anything about them.

Jinx has posed:
[ https://youtu.be/denVAywVyMs ]

"Then what the hell is irony??" Jinx steps out in to the room behing Caitlin as she throws the brick. It misses. Caitlin missed? isn't she an Amazon with amaze skills? She places a hand to her tummy and spies the device on the floor. A small vial of glass housed in a casing that has been cracked open with a small bronze hammer.

Jinx's face drops. "You sons of bitches.. how did you get that?!" Bad luck in a jar. Courtesy of H.I.V.E.. Her eyes narrow. "Damn it. They're HIVE drones..." And against her worser desires, "Don't hurt them too bad they don't know what they're doing."

Jinx turns her head as Colette just.. vanishes. Is that her voice outside? She grimaces and takes off after the two thieves and out on to the fire escape. They're making good time down the rusted stairs.

Jinx starts making her way down after them. By the time she's made it to floor one, the duo of thieves are hot footing it to their own get away car. "Sunnova bitch..."

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin winces at the profanity, but she already looks pretty upset that she missed the throw. "That's... I'm sorry!" she blurts out reflexively. "Don't worry, I'll get them," she promises Jinx, and starts rushing to the fire escape to get after the two men. They regrettably need the stairs to make a safe escape without breaking any bones. Caitlin ignores the stairs entirely and just vaults right off the platform without a second's thought.

And lands right on the hood of Colette's car.

"Sorry Colette!" she yelps, and lunges forward to chase after the two men on foot. Caitlin's built like a brick house but the Amazon is capable of absolutely explosive acceleration when she needs it; two even enhanced humans on foot aren't much more likely to outrun her than they would a cheetah.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    For a few moments Colette stares at Caitlin with a startling cold expression. This is surely going to herald more profanities at any moment. However after a those few moments, Colette seems to snap out of it.

    "No wait, this works. You!" The driver of the other car has exited his vehicle and is leaning against it, trying to catch his breath, and clutching his chest in what is clearly the early stages of what's clearly going into shock. Colette jabs her finger towards him to accompany the "You!", and he turns to look at her, his eyes wide and obviously barely comprehending what's going on.

    "This is your lucky day!" Colette pronounces, stepping closer to him. His eyes follow her, but it's on automatic. She grabs him by the shirt collar, and gives him a shake. He doesn't seem to mind particularly. "She's a superhero. A superhero wrecked my car. I can get compensation no problem. Damage Control pay up quickly. I'll get this year's model. This works out fine! You're a witness."

    Colette gives the man another shake, then steps back and waves her hand in front of his face. His eyes follow her hand. "A useless witness. Never mind. Caitlin won't deny it. Stay! Sit! Down boy!"

    Colette abandons him to his ever increasing shock, and wanders in the direction the gunmen are fleeing, with Caitlin closing in on them rapidly.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx gets to the ground as she sees Caitlin charge off after the getaway vehicle. She plants her hands on her hips as Colette seems to have a mental breakdown over her car. "Okay great. This is going great. Just great. Everything is -great-"

With a resigned sigh she hoofs it too and starts chase. It's not like the streets are empty, the getaway car isn't going -that- fast so Caitlin is absolutely going to catch them. The real question is what will happen when they do.

The driver and passenger, the two HIVE drones, are focused on their driving but the moment they sense their flight is over they stop the car. Their expressions go blank for a moment and then they both pause and look at each other in confusion.

Both take off their masks and one asks the other, "Uh. Who are you.. and where am I?" The other looks equally confused, "I.. don't know. Sorry." She looks down at her clothes and the little package she's carrying. "I don't know what's happened. I was baking and then.. then I was here?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Stopping the car is as easy as getting a hand under the rear frame. Caitlin just lifts with little visible effort until the rear wheels are spinning fruitlessly in the air.

It's not until Jinx and Colette catch up that Caitlin can come around and attend the passengers, and she looks as baffled as they do at the sudden change of behavior.

"Jinx, is this one of those HIVE things?" she inquires. "I didn't realize how effective that mind control could be..." The redhead trails off with a sudden dismay on her features; she very nearly crippled one of them with a serious injury, had that brick hit.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    Colette's tapping away on her phone as she wanders down the road to catch up to the getaway car. She turns back to her car to take a photo of it as she goes. Clearly she's already working on the claim. When she reaches the car, she puts her phone away.

    "YOU!" she demands of one of the HIVE drones at random, doing more of the finger pointing thing. "Hand over the oculus. Right now. No messing us around. She's a superhero," Colette says, pointing towards Caitlin. "And she's a supervillain..." pointing of course at Jinx. "So if they're /both/ after you, you know how much trouble you're in. Your only chance is to hand over the oculus right away, and maybe, just /maybe/, I can talk them both into letting you get out of this in one piece."

    Colette flips her pointing hand over, palm up, in a clear 'hand it over right now' gesture, and gives them both a death stare.

    Nobody mentioned anything to her about HIVE or mind controlled drones. It's not her fault.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx catches her breath and leans against the car a moment. "Yeah.. " pant "..that's what they do alright." She walks around to the passenger side and opens the door. Snatching the leather satchel from the HIVE patsy, "Gimme that."

Opening it, she finds nothing inside and her expression drops. "Ahhh Pants."

--

As the elevator came crashing down the third H.I.V.E. drone zipped up his pants in a hurry and then paused at the door hearing loud words from Caitlin.

Crashing sounds, people fleeing and people chasing. Yelling from outside. Slowly, he opens the toilet door in Jinx's loft and steps out. No one here, not even the two he was working with. There on the floor, having slipped out of the leather satchel, the piece of the Occulus Infinitum that he came to fetch. He picks up the bronze and glass construct and slides it in to his pocket and casually walks away...

--

The two would-be thieves exit the car with their hands up at the mention of 'superhero' and 'supervillain' from Colette. They don't want any trouble and have no idea what's going on.

One of them notices he has a gun in his belt, "Oh my goodness! is that a gun?" He picks it up with two fingers and places it on the ground and steps away from it, "I don't know what's going on but if I hurt anyone I'm really sorry!"

Jinx groans and slaps a hand to her head. "Bad luck in a bottle. I made that for HIVE years ago and completely forgot about it. And now they've weaponised it... great. Juuuuust great."