17064/A Truly Dangerous Room

A Truly Dangerous Room
Date of Scene:	01 February 2024
Location:	The Danger Room - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Caitlin and Wally have to save Clara from a danger room session far above her capabilities.
Cast of Characters:	Clara Jennings, Wally West, Caitlin Fairchild

---

Clara Jennings has posed:
    There are rules in the Danger Room. But Clara really wasn't getting far. Her simulation was prepared, but watered down. It got irritating. So she asked some questions, made some observations, and found interesting ways to up the difficulty. The biggest part is programming a scenario as if it were not for her, but for, say, someone far, far more durable. Dangerous to one is not dangerous all, of course.

    So yeah, the system thinks she's someone like, say, Caitlin. And the combat settings are up there. Clara wanted realistic. Now she's got it. Hopefully nobody minds!

    The nature of the simulation is simple. A field of hiding places and a group of enemies with a variety of powers. Some are simple melee types, probably like a ninja or a other martial artist. Others have energy weapons. They use fire. Clara really needs to learn how to deal with fire. And then there are a variety of models with skills she has seen on a variety of villains. Telekinetics and all that.

    Meanwhile, Clara is a girl who uses paper as a weapon. But the enemy isn't quite as fast as she is, isn't quite as good. It's just that there are 15 of them and one of her.

    "Begin program," she says. She's not even sure if the system will run it at first. But it does. And it trips alarms that she's not even aware of. It is not like the computers here are completely fooled. They are more.. temporarily confused.

Wally West has posed:
Wally has had better days.

He tanked a test at the university. He studied hard for it, he put his entire effort to make sure he could pass it. But...instead, it didn't work out. So, he decided he wanted to go blow off some steam. He didn't get in his uniform though. He wore some running shoes that were made to resist the friction he could create when he ran. Some simple red sweatpants with yellow lines down the side and a black t-shirt with the flash logo on it.

Course, he held his goggles in his hand.

"Alright, time to-"

Imagine his surprise when he spotted Clara in there doing something she PROBABLY was not supposed to be doing! "Clara! What're you doing?!" Wally asks, alarmed by the alert that she's playing with truly 'BIG DAWG' levels of difficulty.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Clara is joining a long line of Titans biting off more than they can chew in the Danger Room. There is a certain adolescent competitiveness among the team, and with that comes a need to prove oneself. To excel, and be the best.

And since almost every one of the older Titans has been /hurt/ doing this, there are now some protocols in place for this scenario. Caitlin Fairchild, sitting at her desk in her room, is so thoroughly absorbed in her book that it takes MARVIN a few tries to get through to her.

"<Miss Fairchild?>" MARVIN asks solicitously. "<There is a safety override in place in the Danger Room.>"

"'Kay, thanks MARVIN," Caitlin responds absent-mindedly. It takes her a few seconds to divert her attention and she pins a finger to her spot before looking up at the wall. "Wait, tell me who authorized the override?" she requests.

"<You did, Miss Fairchild.>"

Caitlin balks and brings up the Danger Room monitor. "<Clara-- oh phew, Wally, you're there. Hey, why did you use my access code?>" Caitlin's voice echoes around the Danger Room, more inquiring than accusatory. "<Who else is in there with you right now?>

Clara Jennings has posed:
    So the ninjas Clara can handle. But the problem is she programmed them all to work as a team. She programmed them all to defeat her. To know her scripts, to know her limits, to anticipate and to work together.

    She's pressed hard instantly. There is a method to her madness, but it is still madness. The danger is immediate and she is hit in seconds.

    But the paper is everywhere, too. But her attacks are still on script. She's testing them out, seeing just how well the team can deal with her. To prod at weaknesses. She let the program include some. But they are random. She has no idea what they might be.

    The wall she is hiding behind is smashed to bits a moment later. She can't make a full on Superman level threat, but the room has enough force so as to be no different. 20 tons or 100 tons is something a physicist might be able to tell apart by studying what's left.

    She is springing away, getting airborne, and immediately dropping herself down on a martial foe. Her paper knocks the enemy on unconcious immediately, and a spray of it is thrown out again, trying to keep the adversary pinned down.

    She hears everyone talking. Honestly, she does. But she has no time to answer. Not if she wants to live.

Wally West has posed:
"Uuuuuuugh!"

Wally clasps his hands over his face. He was just going to do this himself, but now Clara has herself in a truly terrible situation! Yet, before he can much do anything, there's suddenly the monitor to the Danger Room in active use. "Yeah, I'm here Cait." He says seriously, focused on the task at hand. "Me. Clara. And you're disembodied voice. Might need a hand down here protecting the newbie, Cait."

Wally slides his goggles over his eyes and he's suddenly /bolting/ forward, electricity surging from him as he runs.

Several martial foes are nearly instantly taken out...only for them to reform as though nothing had happened. "Ugh, I hate these ones. But man, is this about to feel really good." he mutters while he's running, turning to suddenly try and shift Clara to a different form of cover before she can get pinned down by a counterattack.

"This is /really/ dangerous." He tells her, before he's sprinting again, only to get caught at the edge of a blast, the concussive force knocking him off of his feet and towards one of hte barriers. "Great." He mutters, before his entire body is vibrating to make himself intangible, gliding his molecules through solid cover so he can try and cover from ranged opponents picking at the large stone that covers his body.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"<Oh, crabapples,>" Caitlin says with an irritated tone. "<All right, I'll be there asap. Don't die!>"

Caitlin charges out her room and down the hallway, shouting in the air. "Clear a path! MARVIN, give me green lights all the way to the Danger Room!" She vaults over the dining room table like it's not even there and slams into the elevator lift hard enough to make it sway. The machine proceeds rapidly upwards, exceeding the recommended regular use rating, and delivers Caitlin to the Danger Room floor.

Instead of going into the simulation Caitlin rushes for the panopticon, the command room that oversees the arena. "<OK guys, I'm here,>" she calls over the loudspeaker. The holographic field disguising it disappears and she waves down at them before slapping the 'Emergency Shutdown' button.

Nothing happens.

Caitlin smacks it two more times, then jiggles it up and down to try to reset it manually. "<Override cutoff is busted, I'm going to try and reset the software!>" she shouts down at the duo.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara did not mean to make it not work like that. Wait... did her simulation hack the machine? What is this, Star Trek?! Is Moriaty somewhere in here?

    With Wally's help, Clara avoids further injury. She does not hide, though. Since her defenses are getting overwhelmed, she goes on the offensive instead. The big guy is the one she really has to worry about. But there's a heavy energy user out there. No scripts now. Clara is drawing fire and moving right between the two. It's another test!

    No doubt Wally is busy and cannot always save her, but she only gets clipped once. Her paper shields are mostly on fire in moments, but they block what is behind her, too. And then they melt away, letting one heavy blast go through to hit the tanky beast that is bearing down on her.

    Clara still has no time to talk. She's not really that strong. She can't take a breather. There's another enemy tracking her.

    At the same time, a speedster goes after Wally. It's nowhere near as fast, but it it also has friends. More energy weapons are brought to bear as the simulation tries to pin Wally in a corner, where he cannot help Clara, and where he might even be hemmed-in enough to be hit.

Wally West has posed:
"Don't be upset with me, I didn't build the thing!"

Wally tells Caitlin when she expresses some mild irritation in her tone. Though Wally is trying to protect both himself and Clara, the Danger Room is acclimating to his abilities only somewhat. Speedsters are after him and while he's significantly faster, he requires build-up. Suddenly there's a blur as Wally West isn't even in the same level of a surface as Clara is right now. He's running along the walls. The ceiling. Too fast for gravity to have normal effects. Soon enough, a leg breaks from a sharp kick from Wally West, temporarily debilitating a speedster simulation of hard light.

Meantime, a similar move and in slow motion, he watches Caitlin running across the way, trying to hit the emergency stop from the suite above. Nothing happens.

"Great."

Then Clara is trying to get out of the way of more damage.

A whirlwind starts to form as Wally runs in a circle, sending some of the enemy holograms into the air! "Cait, that's gonna take a minute!"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
Caitlin's running diagnostics with MARVIN's help as fast as she's able. A building alert goes out, but with most of the Titans off on their own errands and personal trips, they aren't likely to get help fast. "<Override is busted, it will take me ten minutes to crawl into the power relay and kill the capacitors. I can't access the system software at all.>"

The loudspeaker falls silent and then Caitlin crashes headfirst out of the command booth window, landing smoothly on her feet and skidding along some hard-light glass. "Clara, stay behind me!" Caitlin commands, and dashes towards the girl. With a phenomenal athleticism she scoops up a heavy 'rock' and underhands it at one of the hard-light ranged constructs. It shatters into a kaleidoscope of vanishing, shimmering glass. The redhead plunges through and grabs Clara, holding her tight and forcing the newer Titan into a relatively safe corner. It's enough to ensure at least none of the charger units are going to get close to Clara without getting in Caitlin's reach. Sure enough, one of them tries it, and Caitlin wrecks the construct with a foot sweep and a two-handed clap around the noggin.

"Wally! Can you take out the shooters?" she calls over to the Flash.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara is injured, but she keeps fighting. She's a bit confused, too. Something isn't right. The simulation is supposed to counter her. It should have no clue at all how to deal with anyone else. Something is certainly not working properly. Or she's just tapped into some program more advanced Titans have as a default. The manual must not have included everything.

    But the constructs do adapt. And then now try to deal with Wally and Caitlin. Enemies that Clara did /not/ create are appearing next. Something like a robot forms. It is not as powerful, but the team will find it is clearly meant to emulate a threat like Amazo.

    Clara does her best to keep the enemy off balance. She cannot deal the kind of damage others can, but she unleashes a barage of distractions. However, there is a growing concern. Those energy users are incinerating her paper. With every burnt shield Clara is a little less powerful.

    Meanwhile, the tankiest of the enemies focuses on Caitlin. The max hit is not going to terrify her, but she has a liability to protect: Clara.

Wally West has posed:
Override is busted.

"Great."

Wally frowns, exasperated by how many things seem to have failed to function in so sort amount of time. Though Caitlin seems to join the fight immediately after, breaking out where she was positioned in the observation deck of the Danger Room. Well, at least they have a heavy hitter now.

Clara is still fighting. Her will is impressive, even if this was a wholly reckless action that could've gone so much worse if neither Wally or Caitlin was here. Though as the Flash seems to be sprinting around, his speed is starting to increase. Yet even with all of that momentum, Caitlin's request is heard.

Even if there's a lot of....weird surrounding their future non-existant and altogether 'existant' family, thtey're still an extremely effective team. Wally's movement targets the ranged shooters, moving fast enough that each blast looks as though it's in slow motion. A finger redirects their fire, his hands aim their guns at each other mid-firing. He runs to Caitlin and Clara, moving individual bullets out of their line of fire.

Then he's moving again as his work accomplishes itself: robots shoot each other, weapons suddenly misfire. Joints are busted.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
The bruiser comes at Caitlin and she steps out in a Foreman defense, guarding her head and moving lighter on her toes to rob the blows of much momentum. The impacts knock the heavy-footed woman left and right, such is their power, but she endures them with stoic silence as the unit starts smashing with robotic efficiency, trying to wear her down.

Then it gives her the opening she needs: Caitlin steps on a hard-light foot and delivers a perfectly timed uppercut that reaches the full length of her arm overhead. It rips the 'head' from the unit and it falls backwards into a cascade of glittering light.

"Wally, grab her and run her out the Panopticon," Caitlin tells the speedster. "I'll cover you both and follow. Once we're all out of here it /should/ deactivate the syste--"

Whatever her last words were, they were cutoff by another bruiser reaching out to grab Caitlin's wrist and throwing her across the arena. She smashes through a concrete wall with a groaned pain and staggers to her feet, looking a little dazed.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Seeing Caitlin get hurt snaps something in Clara. Somewhere in Gotham a governess hears alarms going off. A health monitor checking on stress levels is now into uncharted territory.

    "NO!" the paper master shrieks.

    No going to safety, no waiting. No dodging. She grabs all the paper she has left and uses her creative, terrifying mind to respond. She is now off script.

    It seems small and innocent. Slivers of paper flying down mouths of the enemy, winding around necks, all at once. Then each of them expands with bitter, sharp points. Not super strong, but strong enough to tear the generally 'softer' bits inside. These are the kind of things Clara can never do to a human. But here, with only her stress, her outrage, and a bunch of pain she can't even express, she is freed of all constraints.

    She probably takes more hits. It's clear in her rage it doesn't even matter. She is just after the tank, a frail little girl taking on a goliath, armed only with her anger and enough paper for one more strike. But there are no soft spots on this enemy, and she hasn't more than a handful of paper sheets left to her. Her attacks are useless, even at close range.

Wally West has posed:
Orders. Orders. And More Orders.

Wally just frowns and starts to get going, though as Caitlin tries to be a leader, she's caught off guard by a bruiser giving her a throw from hell, throwing her through a concrete wall. Though Wally was starting to move for Clara, he suddenly repositions himself, moving to try and grab and move Caitlin to the opposite side of the Arena and setting her against a wall to have that cover, to give her a moment to recouperate so she's not jumped while she's stunned, if he's able to move her. Hopefully at high enough speeds, he can get past her remarkable center of gravity.

"Caitlin Fairchild, stop giving me orders and work with me as a team." He points at her. "Now take a second, clear cobwebs. You okay? Be back in a second."

Then he's moving, running faster than he normally does in these enclosed environments, he's making a dead beeline for Clara, as that enemy was about to perhaps strike her with more force than she's durable enough to take. He tries to grab her in time, tries to move her out of the way.

It'll be close.

But maybe, just maybe? It'll be enough. It's another heart attack on Wally's long list of heart attack scares, considering she's a new member of the team and one that' still /very/ much so learning how to use her powers. But how she used them? Deeply concerning if she ever tried that in a live scenario. Here though? Great way to blow off steam.

Let's hope he can help her survive the experience.

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
"Wally, don--"

Off they go again, the motion literally robbing the breath from Caitlin's lungs. Wally leaves her propped up against a wall and in truth, she does welcome the extra seconds it grants her to get her lungs under control. By the time the construct realizes what's happened and he's charging at Caitlin again, she has her feet under her. The redhead charges across the room full-bore and slams into the goliath construct, sending him flying through the air. She's on him in a flash, driving knees and fists with brutal efficiency and breaking the construct down on the spot.

"Wally, GET HER OUT OF HERE!" Caitlin bellows, making the room shake with her voice. "I can take care of myself for ten seconds, but she's gonna get squished if you don't MOVE!" Caitlin punctuates the last word with a knee strike that smashes through the goliath's head with a shattering explosion of force, dissolving into traceries of light.

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Clara is definitely in danger of that. Not that she's giving up. Not that she's exactly herself at this moment. She sees only someone she cares about, someone who might someday fit into that very small cast of people who call her friend, and that someone is in danger. But Clara is just a girl, and not a very strong one. Wally gets her out of harm's way and after that, she's pretty easy to handle.

    She's not terrible cooperative, though. Just very easy to handle, and injured. Her heart rate and blood pressure are off the charts, and cortisol is in levels that are not quite normal for a human. The wrist band that monitors her is beeping frantically, too.

    And all the while, the remaining enemies are trying to stop Wally. But the simulation is degrading. Clara had not written it to be very long. Thankfully! This makes it far easier to deal with. But Caitlin still has the big guy and a few more random enemies left. Not too serious a threat, now that she doesn't have Clara to distract her.

Wally West has posed:
Wally managed to get Caitlin!

Good.

He managed to get Clara! Even better.

Though he ran fast enough, far enough to get her out of harms way, bringing Clara to the Danger room entrance. "Stay here, okay? Cait's tough, but not that tough. She won't let me hear the end of it. See how loud she was? Imagine that being targeted and angry at me. Now, be right back, take a breather."

Then Flash is running again, making it back into the room and bouncing off of several programs to try and wound them! Most notably, he skids to a stop behind Caitlin. "See? You can take a break. Feel better?"

Caitlin Fairchild has posed:
When Wally shows up, Caitlin does indeed take a few seconds to control her breathing. Though she has stamina for days, any athlete welcomes a chance to control their breathing and regulate their heart rate a bit when working at maximum effort. A little sweat is wiped from her brow; the redhead looks weirdly out of place in her bright pink scrubs and bare feet.

"Yeah, yeah," she tells Wally, matching his tone and flashing a grin at him. "I was just saving a couple for you," she assures the speedster, and steps forward to grab a dropped chunk of concrete and rebar. Without much effort Caitlin uses it to sweep the feet out from under one charger and then she does a measured stomp-and-slide that disconnects the head from the body just below the jawline. The last one that comes at her, Caitlin dismantles, arms and legs and last of all, the head, and tosses the parts aside to dematerialize.

With the last of the constructs gone, the images shudder, blink, and de-activate, leaving the three Titans in the empty room once again.

"Clara, are you--" she spots the girl collapsed at the Danger Room entrance, and Caitlin balks. She rushes over as fast as she can without colliding with her, and drops to her knees to measure her pulse and respiration. "Clara? Clara, it's Caitlin," she calls. A few gentle pats to the cheek prove ineffective, so Caitlin gives Clara's sternum a brisk knuckle-rub to see if she can cajole her back into consciousness. "Wally, get her to Medical," she tells the speedster. "Scrub up as fast as you can and get her on ten litres of oxygen and set an IV if you can. I'll be right behind you."

Clara Jennings has posed:
    Caitlin can hear a voice. A woman's voice. Coming from Clara's ear. It's no secret she's almost never 'alone'. The voice sounds frantic and keeps repeating Clara's name. It is likely her governess.

    Clara does not respond. Her injuries, at first glance, are not likely to be life threatening. Still, she will need some time to recover. A few burns from energy blasts, some lacerations, and probably a touch of puncture damage from temporary shrapnel. A 20 ton strike on a wall does that.

    Thankfully, she's really light. Even a normal man could easily carry her around. She'll wake up when she is set down. At least enough to groan, if nothing else.

Wally West has posed:
They were always better together rather than separately. Strength AND speed. She flashed him a grin and Wally actually seems to be in good humor. "For me? Aww. Knew you loved me." He jokes right back and suddenly, he's in the move! He's striking a hundred times per minute on one of them, just throwing hands and feet until it eventually combusts into light. While another is about to pull a trigger but finds its own gun pointed at itself! With no small amount of teamwork, Caitlin and Wally save the day.

Goggles are lifted over the head as Wally shrugs. "Alls well that ends better." he claps his hands together like he just finished dusting!

Then...the task at hand.

The pair make it to Clara and....she's not awake. "I'm moving."

In a blink, Wally and Clara are both gone.

They're about to perform an operation - or at the very least, sustain her body's healing process.