18387/Another Friday in the Roost

Another Friday in the Roost
Date of Scene:	21 June 2024
Location:	Level 4 - Recreation - The Roost
Synopsis:	After the field trip to Tijuana, Conner tries to draw the attention of the Outsiders towards Gamorra
Cast of Characters:	Conner Kent, Bart Allen, Kiden Nixon, Rose Wilson, Laura Kinney

---

Conner Kent has posed:
It is movies night at the Roost, which means people come, hang around, eat snacks and Conner tries to drag them to watch a couple movies. Not always successfully. They have wildly different tastes.

And today he is not even going to try. He has other things in mind. Maybe because it is only a few days after he got irradiated with kryptonite and shot. That put him in a bad mood.

Actually it is not the only reason he looks grumpy. "Hey guys, good to see you. I saw Carrie this morning and but she left to do her bat-thing. Have you seen Tim? Gotta check the air ducts and all."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen heard the word of movie night and since Emiko has left again for a while Bart could use some people time. So with a stop by a half dozen stores, Bart zooms into the room in multiple trips. First one there is a table of pizza, then boxes of sweet snacks, bowls of popcorn. Then then there is a rub of ice, but after that Bart comes walking in from the kitchen area with a couple of cases of sodas.

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Kiden moves through the room, pressing a kiss to Conner's cheek in passing as she heads for the kitchen to check out the snack situation. "Sorry babe. I don't see Ventman unless Ventman wants to be seen. I've even tried setting out fresh coffee and chocolate chip cookies near the registers." Chuckling, she scopes out the fridge... at least until Bart arrives.

The scent of pizza draws her out, holding onto a few two-liters, "Ooooooo, hero!" She scampers over to collect up a few slices before skirting out of the way with soda and pizza. Cheat night! Kiden takes a nice big bite as she finds a place to sit.

Rose Wilson has posed:
With this crew a lot can happen in a short amount of time. After the zaniness of Tijuana it was actually kind of nice to get back to the familiar grimy grind of Gotham underdog life.

Rose hadn't asked Conner how he's doing post-Kryptonite bullet, probably because she saw him up and moving so he must have been fine. These things happen all the time! She doesn't have to blow her cover of actually caring about teammates and continues her trend of seeming to be cold and standoff-ish. Whew.

Besides, there are other concerns. A perceptive individual might see her moving a bit slower and more stiffly than usual. She's bundled up despite the late Spring/early Summer heat with a light jacket zipped high up her neck. Despite the chills there's a light film of sweat on her face and her eyes are looking just a hint bloodshot.

Conner's question about Tim has her grunting "Probably up in the belfry with the other Bats. Or ... polishing his jet, or whatever" she considers while claiming some of the pizza Bart delivered before finding somewhere a little further away from the others to sit.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"It's rarely Tim in the air ducts," Laura says matter-of-factly. "He uses the secret passages in the walls to get around. It's Cass who likes the vents most." Okay and her. But only because it's good training.

A shrug.

She is mixing up her cinema time snacks. Having brought along a mix of dried peas and nuts coated in wasabi. Lots of wasabi. But they have a good crunch and once you're past the feeling like your tear ducts are filled with liquid metal. Rather pleasant! She occasionally offers the bag around just in case anyone is foolish enough to join her.

Maybe she casually sniffs the air when she thinks Rose can't see. Raising an eyebrow. Still sick it seems. /Strange/.

"I am pre-emptively calling not it on the movie front. I have already chosen and watched several movies this month. And I don't want to pick a movie that means I have to see Jackie Chan kidnap a baby again. It really distracted from the fighting."

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner does try the nuts, of course. He has this policy to try everything at least once. His near-invulnerable tear ducts don't melt, but he goes after a can of soda right after. Not repeating the mistake. "Too spicy, as always," he mutters at Laura.

Polishing the jet, Tim would do that. Not answering texts either. Oh well. "Er... forgot to pick movies myself. Sorry. I wanted to talk about last week, anyway. Rose, you okay?" Isn't she a little pale? Paler? Gotham will do that to you!

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen 's brow raises as he hears Conner wants to talk, but he will fill the cans into the ice and then head back into the kitchen and come out with a few from the fridge, He grabs one and one of the pizzas and moves to find a seat and listen.

Kiden Nixon has posed:
"Which part do you want to talk about?" Kiden settles in, noshing on her pizza. And maybe side-eyeing Rose a bit. Looks like a nasty summer cold. WHich means she's going to stay as far away as possible. Normal human physiology sucks.

Rose Wilson has posed:
Nope! Fool Rose once (or two or three or four times) and no more! She's not making any motion toward whatever Laura's offering, she can smell the spice from where she sits!

Unsurprisingly, when Conner asks how she's doing she's quick to deflect it with a quick "Fine" which to those who know her or can pick up on lies is certainly the latter. Not that she's one to talk about her personal matters, so that much is entirely within character for her.

"You want to talk about when I rammed the one boat into the other, don't you. Totally wicked" she grins.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney gives Rose a look. Her head tilting to one side. She shakes the bag of snacks. "They're good for colds," she offers. Perhaps a little pointedly. "And they're not spicy they have a different kind of burn to chilies."

Clearly this is an important point to the spice junky.

"It's just a shame speedboats aren't really intended for ramming," she laments. "A good ramming prow on the boat and we'd have been able to stop that ship from escaping. Then captured the lot of them." Instead of flinging the boss overboard. Presumably to zoidberg run to safety. "I'm guessing we don't have any leads on how they got weapons intended to fight Kryptonians? Those can't be cheap." She knows she's looked into buying them herself. Just hypothetically. "And really aren't the sort of kit you just have around for a what if."

Likewise they always seem to have flamethrower cyborgs. Almost like they're expecting healing powers.

"Do we have any new leads? Or are you wanting to do an after action report.... If it's the later..." She wouldn't be shocked if Rose goes for some smoke bombs is what. And no doubt with a Kiden shaped silhouette in the smoke before Bart could blink.

Conner Kent has posed:
"Oh, I will leave the after action report to Tim, he was there," notes Conner. He will write those sometimes, but only when Tim is not around. "Plus, three quarters of the operation was you girls alone. I just got there to get shot."

Yes, it happens. No, he is not happy.

"That Gila guy had a cyborg lab and kryptonite," he agrees. "And last year he had a bunch of shark-themed genetically engineered critters. One of Gotham's gangsters, can't remember who... it is probably in the files, said he was just a smuggler." He sighs.

"Now, this is all weird, but it is the usual weird. At least there is no magic involved this time, right?" Famous last words. Although no, nothing that looked like magic. Yet. "So I went and wrote an article about Gamorra. It was a lot of conjecturing and old news. Well, it got deleted. Every time I tried to post it. Deleted in minutes. Carrie is on the case, but man, that is some quick hacking. Carrie also said their computer tech uses different protocols that then rest of the world and she has no interpreters. Apparently it means she can't just hack them and find out everything."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen hmmms and says "Were you able to find any other info about Gamorra online? That might tell if it is something deleting what you post, or info in general." He sticks to his pizza half of it gone already "Need me to go check out some seedy bars in a disguise? " He asks smiling and is now wearing a fake mustache and a black leather jacket with his hair swept back with some type of product.

Kiden Nixon has posed:
Kiden would do the AAR's... if she were ever asked! But until such time, she will happily just let them be shunted off onto someone else. Onto her second piece of pizza, she stays quiet, letting the thers throw around theories and suggestions. This isn't really her wheelhouse, so she leaves it to people with more experience in the matter.

Rose Wilson has posed:
"Pff, any vehicle is good for ramming if you get it going fast enough" Rose rolls her eye at Laura and waves it off. Although the offer of that spicy nugget is almost, ALMOST reconsidered. Almost. Even that isn't worth it for 'maintaining her cover' regarding her health.

Still, Laura does raise some good points. The one-eyed girl points toward the mutant girl when she mentions the enemy being prepared with specialized munitions. "I might wonder if they knew we were coming" she considers while rubbing some of the condensation from her forehead.

As Conner explains the situation more Rose flicks that hand upward and lets it flop back into her lap, the other still holding half of a folded piece of pizza. "Cybernetics weren't good enough for them, they had to have an internet two point oh as well? AND their Kryptonite bits -- is there anything -normal- about these idiots?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Have you ever tried getting a dirigible up to ramming speed?" Laura says with dry amusement. "It'd be more exciting chasing someone using those shoes. The ones with a wheel in the back. I think Gabby had a pair.."

She rolls her eyes back when Rose turns down the snacks. Chicken!

"It certainly seemed like they expected /someone/ to come," she agrees. "Escape tunnels with waiting speed boats. Perhaps they didn't expect us to get as far as the yacht. But they were certainly not unprepared for a fight."

She frowns.

"Having tech that Carrie and Tim both struggled to hack concerns me more than the Kryptonite if I'm honest. Buying dangerous materials is one thing. Anyone with the money and connections can buy Kryptonite if they know the right people." A big if admittedly. "But there can't be many people out there doing that kind of computer work. It's just. Bizarre."

Conner Kent has posed:
"Well, I think the island was closed before the Internet protocols became an international standard," Conner shrugs. Divergent computer technologies would be fascinating for Tim, not for him. "At any case, yes, the fact Gamorra can prevent stuff about them being published in the Internet is alarming. I also found out a good number of reporters trying to investigate the island have been killed along the years. And... I don't know what is Gila's role, we need to find out. He is selling Gamorra's stuff, that is unprecedented, as far as I know. But the stuff he sells, it tends to end up badly for the buyers."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Gabby has two dirigibles?" Yea Bart got lost there for a second and then hmms "I think I missed something along the way." He admits.

Kiden Nixon has posed:
"Not sure they were expecting us so much as they had prior knowledge of.. well, at least some of you. He got my powers wrong, like most anyone does that's just seeing them for the first time. The Masked Man thought I was a speedster," Kiden quirks a half smile as she sips on her soda. She takes another big bite of pizza, chewing on it thoughtfully.

She glances to Laura, "Could be they have some sort of mutant powers. Technopath or the like. Maybe stolen powers. Fuck know there's been plenty of mutants that have been hijacked and sold off for various purposes. Genetic tampering to make a technopath. Throw in some cybernetics to make them physically sturdier. It would explain the woman at least." She lifts a shrug, "Structure seems like most gangs. Gotta prove yourself before you get the GOOD stuff, otherwise you're just an expendable grunt."

Kiden leans back in her chair and looks up at the ceiling, "If I'm remembering correctly, technopaths access everything differently, the pathing is different. The patterns are different. It might explain why our resident tech squad are having trouble with it. It could look completely alien to them since they don't have to follow traditional paths."

Rose Wilson has posed:
The first thing Rose does is flick what remains of her crust at Laura for the dirigible remark.

The second thing... She knows that look from Laura. Chicken? -Chicken?!- Aw hell naw! (And this is probably why she's fallen victim to this ruse more than a few times in the past.)

Slice of pizza gone, another quick mopping of her face on sleeves, then she's out of her chair to reach out and snag Laura's treats out from under her if she has to. Marty McFly would approve, nobody calls her chicken. Even if indirectly.

She even takes two pieces!

"What's the one thing everyone says?" she asks the group. "'Follow the money.' But what if you can't? Hiding everything behind an impenetrable layer of techno-whatsit seems like a good option. Let people bash their heads against their keyboards in frustration while you're free to cause more mayhem."

Conner's suggestion is probably far more likely but she likes hers better (although Kiden's is also good!) Though with her thoughts offered she pops one of the wasabi bits into her maw... And finds it to be shockingly mild for one like Laura.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Gabby has shoes with wheels in them," Laura corrects, catching the thrown crust and shrugging. The crust is the best bit of good pizza. "I mean she might also own airships but if she does I'm not aware of it. Which is good it's a sign she's following her training and keeping secrets from me." She certainly doesn't tell everyone everything. Like the trip she took recently to help out Genosha and quite possibly the Brotherhood. If anyone asks. Clearly one of her clones.

"Could be a mutant or meta. Or I guess some sort of alternate dimension. They can't be so isolated that they didn't hear /anything/ about modern computer systems. And if they are. Surely they'd adapt things to work with regular systems when involving themselves with the gangs?"

She winks when Rose snags some of the snacks. They're hot but not /terrifying/. Wasabi isn't chili it's a different kind of burn. And very good for unblocking a runny nose. Still better not to touch your eyes after eating some though. Just to be safe.

"The money is usually the right call it's true. That's how I track down most of my leads for Facility staff. They have to be getting something out of fucking all these gangs over with deadly cybernetics. If it's not money from /selling/ the tech it must be related to the use of the tech. Or the gangs getting wiped out after."

Conner Kent has posed:
"Hmm, gang stuff... so he had the other gangers killed or arrested, but Cruz 'passed' some test?" Kiden might be on something there. And all those rotting cyborgs, damn. "I don't know about technopaths. I thought A.I.s myself. Carrie is looking at it. I don't think they have any difficulties with regular systems, most of those are public, it is just the other way around."

He reaches for a slice of pizza and leans back. "I don't know, they blew up the sub and the computers. I guess we have to wait a little for the techies people report and keep looking for Gila. I am pissed of about the information blackout, you know? People has the right to know. I am trying to be a real reporter."

To make up for it, Conner will aim to eat more pizza than Bart.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen hmms and says "Are there anyone we know who has the power to talk to computers?" He asks them seeing if maybe someone might know of someoen.