2147/Hospitality

Hospitality
Date of Scene:	18 June 2020
Location:	China
Synopsis:	Cassandra draw a line and Ted respects it for once. Ted gets to live.
Cast of Characters:	Cassandra Cain, Ted Kord

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Cassandra Cain has posed:
It was a dark and stormy night. Somewhere, anyway. Not here. Here is almost depressingly foggy, the entire city being difficult to traverse. Narrow streets, the sounds of crime burgeoning...China has its own rhythms, its own heart. Especially now when it's hard to see things being done.

Cassandra Cain walks over another unconscious robber, having just dropped nearly all of them in a burst of apparent boredom. A body hitting the ground near the convenience store she'd been defending, out cold but mostly unhurt. She doesn't wear a mask, she doesn't care if they see her face. She doesn't see the one behind her with a gun, aimed at her spine.

Not many people would even know there was a problem. As the young lady walks, from moment to moment, wishing there were something a bit more fun tonight. With bodies littering the sidewalk behind her.

And a gun aimed at her spine.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord is looking a little like Bruce Willis in Unbreakable. Big poncho with hood, rain coming off him. He has a small bag of very expensive exotic herbs his cook was languishing over. Despite the rain he heard the sounds of struggles and old habits die hard. The poncho is whisked off, revealing his latest Blue Beetle fashion. Ss he touches a button in his glove.the hood and mask slide into place. He vaults onto a low roof and parkours along. He's not as skilled as say Batman, who is? He is twenty pounds lighter and far less loaded with gear. He moves fast and finds himself over looking a recent brawl and a man drawing a bead on a young woman.

"Hey!" he hollers. He leaps from the roof and onto the man as a shot rings out. The gunman gets the Beetle's feet in his chest. The gun gets knocked away with his buckler. Hey that thing works pretty good! Captain America was right!

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The shout has the girl moving before the bullet wings by; whether it would have landed or not is up in the air, the man's buckler very effective indeed. The girl's reflexes?

Stunning.

She moves so fast that she had to have trained it, enhanced her body, or at the very least sold her soul to Hermes. She throws her body sideways, her head twisting in the air to get any fraction of her vision on the attacker, a hand already reaching for a throwing weapon, and the INSTANT she spots what's going on, abandons the move to land in a two-hand, one-foot stance on the ground that has her skidding into position to see.

Her eyes narrow as she watches the outcome of the 'fight'. If we're calling it that now.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord turns to regard the woman and gets a glimpse of her move. He looks at the men on the floor and has a sudden bad feeling. This guy might have been a cop. The sort who fired warning shots, into a person as a warning to the next person. But he might still be a cop. this might be a villain. The Blue Beetle keeps a defensive stance, but makes no move to close or attack, waiting for her reaction. Crap. There's only one person he heard of moves that fast.

"... Lady Shiva!" His eyes narrow. He'll go down fighting.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The response isn't what would have been expected. Though the girl moves like, looks like, and possibly acts like Lady Shiva, her response is one that gives away a whole other world.

She facefaults and places her hand on her own mug in a move so clearly 'Jesuz, this AGAIN?' it might as well be subtitled. She slowly, calmly straightens. Looks between her fingers at Ted. And sighs, her eyes droll and unrelenting. "No,' she says bluntly. Then she rolls her eyes and looks to the sky for salvation from family resemblances.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord moves his hand away from the BB Gun and straightens. A muffled <Phew> might be heard behind his face mask. "I claim, darkness, rain and being in a strange country. I'm sorry we Americans rarely hear of foreign supers or vigilantes. I'm Blue Beetle. Everyone gets my name wrong." He walks over to her now, maybe a trusting fool. The face shield retracts though his upper face is covered because, rain. He extends a hand. Yeah a baddie would have taken him by now. "You are... very fast."

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The stare on the young lady's face (no, not a girl. Not this one.) says that she expects a little distance, and she doesn't raise her hand to shake when Ted does. When he walks close her eyes simply hold his, flickering left and right in short saccades. She's checking the downed foes, the environment for enemies. She's on the job.

A bit late she meets his hand with her own, but only after making it clear she's seen it, she's not commenting on it, and this is by her choice. She doesn't squeeze though. It's no challenge then? Hard to tell. SINCE SHE ISN'T TALKING.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord gets his hand back. He regards Cassandra for a minute. He heard her speak a single word, no. That was English. Puzzles and more puzzles. He hits a control on his glove and he is illumnated by a searchlight from the Bug. "Okay, this was swell but I have to get back to New York... okay. Nice meeting you Not Shiva." As the Bug arrives it lowers a lin for him.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
With the fog swirling about, the drone seems to come from nowhere. Cassandra ducks when the searchlight appears, low on the ground with one hand on her belt. Then throws a weapon, some form of knife, at the incoming target. She glances at Ted an instant after it leaves her hand and her eyes widen.

The sound of her little metal toy bouncing off of Bug likely is comical to Ted. To her, it seems to make her more annoyed as she starts to rise from the combat posture.

Her eyes try to take in both Ted and the Bug at once, and manage it on some level. And she promptly steps on some thug who was starting to get up, pinning him to the ground. I meant to do that, apparently.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord ducks the thrown stabby thing that bounces off the drone fetching that line and opens the distance reflexively. He looks down at it and has a stab of recognition, followed by another stab as he picks it up and catches his thumb on a serrated... wing? He looks up at her a little surprised. "This is Batman branding... you know Batman? I worked with him a while back. I'm sure he must have... never mentioned me. What do they call you?" He notes a thug getting to his feet, drawing a knife and hip fires the BB gun, knocking him ten feet into a wall.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
The lady doesn't turn at all when Ted fires on the guy across the space. She watches him, the very non-interest in the conclusion of his shot an abnormality. One would naturally check to see if he took the target down, wouldn't they?

Instead she walks toward him, letting her footrest decide if he really wants to get up or not on his own. Apparently the decision is 'stay down' because he doesn't make a target of himself. At least not immediately.

Not-Shiva however walks up and makes a motion to one side of Ted, her left hand reaching for his ear. She grabs the air there, drawing his attention, and suddenly her right hand is holding the 'throwing weapon' that Ted was holding a moment before. She places it back into her belt after that sleight of hand move, watching his face.

And then suddenly grins, as if that was some kind of..joke?

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord does wugga-wugga back and forth look, like a dog watching a tennis ball in a match. What just happened? Then he abruptly drops, landing on a hand and two feet. He sweeps his legs out spinning in a break dance move before flipping to his feet.

And back kicking another thug in the face. He folds his arms and clearly the gauntlet is thrown down but...

"Does Batman know you're using his stuff? He really doesn't like that. I touched that little camera he uses and ka-blooey!"

Cassandra Cain has posed:
It's almost a dance. Ted drops abruptly and spins, and Cassandra does a simple cartwheel. The motion is lazy, simply leaning left and placing a hand on the ground, then allowing herself to rotate around and over Ted's leg-spin.

She lands a few feet away and sighs. She doesn't talk, that starting to be obviously either a part of her makeup or a choice zealously protected. Then she hunches down and puts her right hand on the ground in front of her. Super-threatening.

But she doesn't give back the batarang either.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord mirrors Cassandra's pose. His face shield retracts and he briefly sticks his tongue out.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
Cass' eyes roll up as the guy sticks out her tongue at her. She stands and then puts her fingers into 'gun' posture, the index and middle sticking out. She then proceeds to 'shoot' herself in the side of her own head with it, and pantomimes falling over.

It's all very theatric and ridiculous, given that she apparently has nothing to actually say.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord jumps onto Cass, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her, writhing with grief at her demise. He retracts his mask entirely and does a decent community theater level job of crying over her. H finally drops his head on her shoulder and sobs silently. At least this is the way it goes in his head.

Cassandra Cain has posed:
"No." That word again, though this time it's accompanied with a finger placed right in front of Ted's nose. The lady plants her foot on his chest, stopping him from actually laying a hand on her, as she waggles her finger in his face. "No." Then a raised eyebrow, as she waits to see exactly how committed he is to this joke, and his own eventual therapy sessions resulting from it.

Ted Kord has posed:
Ted Kord sees the joke is over. Perhaps he even went too far? He stops before throwing himself on her and gives her the 'OK' hand sign. Then he throws his hand up and would seem to almost instantly vanish to most, but certainly not this woman. She probably grasped the working of a small control in the glove with the gesture. The line descends again and grasping it, the Blue Beetle is lifted out of sight as it retracts into the rainy sky.

Up in the cabin, Ted pulls his hood off, then goggles. "What the heck did I almost get into? Why would I..." He shakes his head. "I need a date. Badly... I wonder if she's going to tell Batman?"