17098/The Fearsome N-1

The Fearsome N-1
Date of Scene:	04 February 2024
Location:	Labs - Titan's Tower
Synopsis:	Shots fired, the Fearsome Five are back and this time they have coordination and genius level leadership. Psimon and Gizmo make off with a powerful mind powers amplifier. The Five just made it to the major leagues.
Cast of Characters:	Jinx, Damian Wayne, Bart Allen, Emiko Queen, Donna Troy

---

Jinx has posed:
** Access Denied **
** Access Denied **
** Access Denied **

There's only so many failed attempts at getting in to the advanced tools of the Titans Tower mainframe before the alarm goes out to everyone in the building who is awake.

Jinx lifts up her hand as pink magical energy swirls around it and shoots down in to the computer system. "Come on you stubborn piece of..."

** Akkess Deniid **

Jinx thumps her hand to the desk top and regrets it immediately. She has cuts over her street clothes and stained red spots. Some blood still drips from her nose. There is a portal open on the far side of the computer server room leading out to a main street in Chicago. There's sirens, there's people fleeing, there's clearly an armoured vehicle overturned and on fire with its back doors blown open.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Robin had happened to be in the Tower sharing some information on a recent incident somewhere before the alarm went off. Already kitted up in his familiar red, green and yellow, as the young man arrives at the server room. "What the..."

Just to see Jinx and what seems to be about the appropriate amount of chaos that is to be expected in a Jinx-adjacent event. "Wendy," he calls out to the Tower's mainframe, "Mainframe Access, Robin-one-five-delta-whiskey! Bring down the alarm and the access log."

Then his attention turns to Jinx. "You look like hell. Is that..." a gesture to the portal. "...secure?"

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen comes into the room moments after Damian. He has Emiko in his arms and will skid to a stop looking about as he sits her down on her feet and moves to look at the portal. Without much thought he is leaning through it looking about half the speedster in the tower half through it on the other side.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Being at a location is less required when you happen to be spending time with your favorite speedster. Just slightly annoying at being interrupted, but they're use to it by this point. Emiko is set on the floor once Bart stops, taking a brief moment to adjust her hood from the trip and nod to Damian and Jinx.

Though her attention is almost immeadiately siezed after by the portal. She tilts her head a little. Looks to Jinx. Then back to the portal. "Somehow that is the less bizarre thing that could be happening, all things considered." As things do tend to be in Jinx's presence.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx winces a little as others join her in the computer server room. The alarm shut off, but still no access. She waves a hand in agitation at Robin, "I need access to find out what was on that truck." She points a hand toward the portal she's left open.

The edges of the portal ripple with pink magical energy - it seems Jinx is getting better at making and maintaining those things now that she's had more than a casual need for them. Sometimes a Vorpal just isn't around and rapid transportation is still necessary.

When Bart sticks his head out he can see the pandemonium. This is a recent event, an attack on an armoured truck. Best guess - an RPG was used to blow open the back. The two guards up front are dead. There's blood on the ground.

When Jinx said she needed a little time away from the tower to 'set things right' this wasn't exactly the kind of 'setting of things right' the Titans were likely expecting. Another wince as she grips her bloodied side. A small chunk of twisted metal dislodges and drops to the floor from her wound. It looks like a metallic spider leg.

"Unlock the stupid thing ... please." Please is an important word she has discovered. But her impatience is palpable. Realising being a little more forthcoming might help her cause, "The Fearsome Five attacked that armoured van." A grimace at the growing numbers of Titans in the room, "This is the first major action by them since I quit years ago- this isn't just a money heist."

Damian Wayne has posed:
As Jinx brings him up to date on what exactly happened, Robin's lips pull into a thin line. Why Jinx did not call for help when the attack happened can wait - different lecture - different place. In the meantime, he's focused on the here and now.

"Wendy, grant access to Jinx, standard level." None of the command functions, but she'll have at least a normal level of supervised access. "Impulse, Red Arrow, could you check the scene, report back on what you find?" he asks the pair.

As for himself, he's already feeling around his utility belt to pull out first aid materials. "You can tell me about it while I treat these injuries."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods, and steps on through the portal, looking about. He knows with a portal there Emiko does not need him to carry her, so he is off looking over the truck, sticking his head into the window and places looking around, but not touching anything at least not yet.

Donna Troy has posed:
    "Jinx, there are T-Coms. You've got one. Rather than setting off alarms trying to break into our secure systems, you could have contacted someone who's actually got access." The mildly spoken rebuke accompanies Troia's entrance into the lab, a little after the other three. She is, inevitably, armed and armored, but seems quite relaxed about things. Damian seems to be taking charge of the immediate problem, so there's no need for rushing around like a maniac. Especially when there's Bart around; few people rush around like a maniac as well as a speedster can do.

    "Fearsome /Four/ I assume, Jinx?" Troia asks with the faintest arching of one eyebrow. "Are any of them still on the scene, or have they made their getaway already?" She has her eye on the portal, but isn't immediately following Bart and Emiko through. Not unless any of the aforementioned supervillains put in an appearance.

    "Impulse, Arrow, be careful," Troia calls after the pair. "Perpetrators should be considered medium dangerous. Don't engage without backup."

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko Queen nods to Robin (remember he's using that name again), as she was already walking over to the portal, mostly to verify what Jinx is saying. It's not a lack of trust, it's being thorough and pragmatic. "On it." The clink of a bit of metal dropping from Jinx's wounded side is noted, and filed. It liked belonged to one of Gizmo's gizmos, then. "Reuinions with former allies likely to hold a grudge is never pleasant." It is a situation she knows, but now is not the time. "Of course," she adds to Donna when the wonderous girl arrives.

She steps through the portal and immeadiately goes into situational analysis mode. The damage to the truck certainly lines up with an explosive armament. The loss of civilian lives an unfortunate circumstance.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods his head to the command pausing in his running around long enough to give a thumbs up back through the portal to the ones running the show.

Jinx has posed:
Jinx rolls her eyes at Donna. "Gizmo is jamming the signal -" She looks back up to the computer when access is given. Not just a charity case trying to turn a villain toward the straight and narrow. Jinx has earned a lot of trust. "Fucker..."

She mutters under her breath. It's not clear to whom she is referring as she types in a number plate. The Titans mainframe is quick about it and brings up itinerary for the armoured vehicle. $17,000,000 in cash and bonds; but the item that catches Jinx's eyes immediately is 'Unidentified diamond'.

"Ah fuck!," she says and stares at Damian as he starts trying to patch her side up. "That can wait - that's not a diamond, it's a Hindi mind focus stone." Noting no one seems to get what she's on about she waves her hands and pushes off the chair, "It amplifies mental powers. Nope, five. Psimon is there with the rest of them and a small army of goons."

Through the portal the situation is evolving rapidly. Police have taken up position in front of a street just around the corner from the portal and the burning armoured vehicle. Gun shots begin to ring out. The police seem to fade in and out of view like a mirage before Bart and Emiko. Their T-coms aren't working either.

"Come on, we have to stop them before Psimon attunes to the damn thing." Unless someone tries to stop her, wounds and all, Jinx is heading back through the portal.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Jinx /has/ earned a lot of trust, but Robin is being thorough. As he always is. And if Donna or Caitlin or someone with the authority to give her higher access, he trusts their opinions. With the manifest of the truck coming up, he's listening. "You're not going back out there with that in your leg." Said firmly, before she can protest, he yanks out the chunk of metal and applies a sealing gel to close up the wound so he can wrap it in a quick bandage. Easiest to handle the worst of the injuries. The rest can wait.

Now that that's taken care of, Robin nods, getting back to his feet as he hears Donna's voice. The fact that he knows what Jinx is referring to is not lost on him, "Sounds like we're going to have a busy night then, Donna."

And with her heading back towards the portal, he'll follow her once she's through.

Emiko Queen has posed:
Everything at the scene of the truck checks out with Jinx's reaccount. Again it was not out of lack of trust, it was verifying the situation. A protocol to ensure they have as much information as possible.

And then there is gunfire down the block. Could still be the perps. Emiko flicks out her T-comm. "We have potential contact still in the vicini--" Then notices it's not getting through. Sigh. "--Figures." She should of anticipated their little nerd was interfering with signals. Fortunately she has an alternate method present, and turns to her companion. "Go back to the portal and warn the others there's still hostiles and the comms are jammed."

While Impulse rushes back to the portal to fill in the others she fires a grappling arrow to the nearby roof and make her way up. She wants to get a better advantage point on what's going on, even if she won't engage until the others catch up.

Donna Troy has posed:
"He was one of the four I was assuming," Troia replies to Jinx with a frown as she unslings her lasso and steps towards the portal alongside the sorceress. "Unless... gods, Light is back with them? Again? That guy is so annoying. "

    "Okay listen up guys," Troia says. "We win this by thinning the herd. Concentration of force is the key. Impulse, look for the short guy, probably flying around in some kind of harness. Tech specialist, no powers. Keep him occupied, knock him out if you can but mainly keep occupied for now. Target his jamming gear if you spot it. Robin, go meet up with Arrow. You two deal with Shimmer first. Red headed woman, dresses kinda skanky. She's a matter transmuter, strictly short-range, but watch for projectiles. Which are your best option against her too. She's one of the bigger threats but vulnerable, so deal with her quickly. Doctor Light, normally dresses in black, energy projector. Some real firepower there, but tactically inept, dumb, and easy to get riled. He's everyone's second target. The big guy is Mammoth, faster than he looks and seriously strong. Keep well away and leave him to me. Psi-mon is the most dangerous of them but it sounds like he's going to have some distractions. Jinx, you're wounded so stay at range, but cause trouble. Keep the goons busy and Psi-Mon distracted. Nobody go one-on-one against Psi-Mon though. He's a powerful psychic. Everyone do your best to stay in visual range at least until we've got comms back on line."

    Once she's through the portal, Donna lifts a couple of feet into the air. ""And don't forget the goons," she adds. "They may be the least threat, but anyone's a threat if you're not paying attention. We can mop them up when the big guns are down though. Any questions, yell!" With that she shoots upwards in search of Mammoth!

Jinx has posed:
"Fuuuck," Jinx exclaims as Damian gets 'right to it' with his version of merciful medicine. "It was better in," she complains though that's arguable. Gritting her teeth, she limps ahead as Donna lays out the battle plan. It's a good plan - if the enemy were playing fair that is.

As the team spreads out taking their high positions and low positions the strange mirage affect sweeps over them. The sound of gunfire abates and the street seems eerily empty. Then it all comes crashing back in to real as the battle sweeps over them.

Then it's gone again. Empty. Nothing but quiet.

And then there is the Fearsome Five, standing in the middle of the empty street out of no where. They look triumphant. Dr. Light is not there but instead Doctor Sivana in his lab coat. He adjusts his glasses and Psimon motions with a hand. The heroes, those perched up high and those on the streets, feel themselves gripped by powerful psionics.

"Too late Titans. Unlike previous leaders of the Five I'm not here to amuse myself in grandious battles with the B-team of heroes."

The diamond is lodged in a device that Gizmo has put together and Psimon is focusing his power through it. This is next level strategy from the Fearsome Five; not at all like their previous approaches. Definitely not Dr. Light level of incompetence.

"I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again. And again. And again. The losses might start to bruise your ego - but you'll get used to it."

...and then the five simply shimmer away (no name pun intended). The city comes back to life. There are no goons, there are no villains; there are several wounded police officers who immediately get attention from their colleagues. Chicago has never seen an attack like this before.

Jinx just stares.. "What the fuck just happened." A quick glance at her T-coms. It's been an hour. They all just lost an hour of their lives.

Damian Wayne has posed:
Donna's plan is solid, and Robin offers a nod of his head. "If you get over your head, Donna, just remember you're not alone." A little smile offered towards her as he pulls his grapple. Heading into the portal, he's moving to fire the line to yank him towards Emiko. "Arrow, we've got skank patrol!" he calls out to her flatly.

There's only one skank there, right?

Not that it matters, because all of the sudden -- something happened. He's not sure what it was, but for some reason there was no clash, no nothing.

Like someone had moved the slider on a YouTube video all the way to the end.

Grasped in the psionic energy as the Fearsome Five gloat about their recent victory, the younger Bat growls between his teeth. And before he can offer any kind of retort? They're gone. And only chaos and confusion is left in their wake.

With Jinx's announcement, he looks towards his own T-Comm. "The hell? Short an hour. Confirm your T-Comms!"

Emiko Queen has posed:
Emiko Queen smirks a little at Damian's phrasing as he joins her. It's an assassin thing. "Wonderful. Let's do it." She moves into position at the edge of the rooftop, readying her bow while scanning for their targets...

And then everything goes to pot and back. Things reacting more like a mirage or a dream. Some force keeping them from acting while the scoundrels gloat and make their escape.

Then like the violent snap of a rubber band everything is back, in disarray even without a visible fight. ".. The hell was that?" She glances at her comm. "Yeah. That shouldn't be right, but it is."

She glances down from the rooftop. Bart is for once standing still, looking just as confused as the rest of them. Super speed didn't save him from whatever was going on.

Emiko huffs into her bangs. "This is going to be a problem..."

Donna Troy has posed:
    "They've got themselves a second short baldy nerd type?" Troia muses somewhat incredulously of the presence of Doctor Sivana. She snaps out of it pretty quickly though. "Guys, let's confirm that this is really over for now before we drop our guards. Jinx, I need you to check that what we're seeing right now is real. "

    She comes dropping back down out of the sky to join the others on the ground. "Touch grass, Jinx. Make sure that you can feel the connection. I want a confirmation that we are actually on Gaia's Earth and not in some kind of psychic simulation. Robin, check satellite uplinks, let's see if we can get an external view of what happened here in the last hour. If there's nothing on the Tower systems from the satellites, lets see if we can get some local CCTV. "

    Troia lets her eyes wander around the scene, committing details to memory. She crouches down and touches the ground beneath her feet, just making sure it feels real. "Life is easier when it's Doctor Light. For once I feel like giving that guy a beat down for /not/ causing trouble. Anyone able to ID the lab coat guy? Fearsome Five with some brains behind it could actually be kind of annoying. No offense, Jinx."

Jinx has posed:
Jinx wriggles out of her shoes and walks over to the landscaping. Feet on ground, she can feel the flow, the heart beat of the Earth. "It's real. We're not being messed with.... still." Psimon was in their heads making them lose an entire hour. Memory manipulation, mind control, telekinesis. He was a problem before but now with that amplified he's become an instant major threat.

CCTV and Satellites show the Fearsome Five with a dozen goons engaging in a shoot out with the police. Gizmo is fiddling with a device and Psimon places the diamond in the device. Then - everyone sort of just stands there for an hour. Just.. standing there doing nothing. Titans included.

The Fearsome Five walk away. Satellite and CCTV tracks them walking casually over to a truck. That truck casually driving away. They arrive at a harbour and get in to a small submarine. By now it could be anywhere.

"..Yeah none taken. I was hardly committed to the role." She sounds a little downhearted. Losing against her old team like that. "His name is Thaddeus Sivana. Fancies himself a doctor - he's a huge pain in the arse. Very smart. He's one of the H.I.V.E. upper management. I guess he decided to get hands on. That's not good. Not good at all."

The portal Jinx had made is gone. She'll make a new one so they can all get home and lick their wounds. What they witnessed today was Psimon controlling an entire street, possibly more, all at once. That's a whole new level of danger from the Five than ever before. And they all worked in coordination - no bickering and joking about.

Jinx makes up her mind. She looks over at Damian and Donna, "Hey. I want in. All the way. No half measures. I'm done fucking around - I need to make a difference and with ... all this" She waves her arms around at the chaos slowly getting back under control, "... you're going to need my magic."

Usually there's a subtle jokey manner to Jinx but not today. Perhaps it's all the injuries she suffered in the first wave of the fight. What was meant to be a simple bit of surveillance escalated very quickly. "Say yes."

[ To be continued... Smoke & Trouble - Sam Tinnesz - https://youtu.be/prENfOM1Wnw ]