3440/Court of Owls: Red Dead Redemption Interlude 2 - Brainstorm

Court of Owls: Red Dead Redemption Interlude 2 - Brainstorm
Date of Scene:	19 September 2020
Location:	Upstairs - Red Cave
Synopsis:	Batwoman and Nightwing investigate Jason's Red Cave lair and rescue Val from the safe room!
Cast of Characters:	Valeria Richards, Dick Grayson, Kate Kane

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Valeria Richards has posed:
As the talons had faded from the batcave after their attack, a panicked voice had come over the comms from the 'Red Cave'. It wasn't Jason's voice, however, but the voice of his girlfriend, Valeria Richards. "Is this on? Dammit, work! Okay, connection... connect-- hello? HELLO? Can anyone hear me?"

Batman moves to the comms unit. "I can hear you, Valeria."

"Oh god. I need help. They came and they took Jason." Her voice is high-strung and clearly panicking. "I'm trapped in the safe room, I can't get out. Everyone's gone but the door is stuck and they took him with them!"

"Someone will be there soon," he reassures her. "If anything happens, update me immediately." When he gets an affirmation from Valeria, he turns around. "Batwoman. I need you to go to Red Cave." He shoots a message to Nightwing, who he knows is on the way after the emergency signal had gone out from the cave. "Nightwing will meet you there. Get Valeria out and to safety, and any evidence or information you can find there."

~*~*~*~*~*~

When Batwoman and Nightwing arrive at Red Hood's 'lair' in an old garage on 14th street, they are greeted with true carnage. The stairs leading up to the upstairs apartment have been blown to bits with a fragmentation grenade. Bits and pieces of the tawny and brown costuming the talons wear are scattered about, though there are not actual bits of talons or bodies... though evidence remains that at some point there were, in fact, bodies around-- either they got up and walked off on their own (possible) or were dragged away (also possible).

But the stairs themselves? Gone.

Dick Grayson has posed:
When Nightwing got the memo, he had been not far, but the first thing he did was hop on the Wingcycle and was damn near flying to the Red Cave. He had already lost his brother once, so this was of the highest priority to him. Nightwing rides for war.

When he gets to the base he calls over comms, <<Nightwing on site. Looks like a bunch of carnage here, but no sign of Red Hood.>> He gets the escrima sticks out and gives them a spin as he takes a moment to get an idea of what he is walking into. The former Robin knows full well his little bro's love of the boom, but not exactly where they would have gone, though the destruction at least marks a path of where they were, but more could be there, in Dick's thoughts.

Kate Kane has posed:
Batwoman pretty much came straight over from the Cave, still fresh from the attack. She parks her cycle next to Nightwing's, hopping off easily and murmuring into her comm, <<Makes sense. Watch out for surprises.>> With that, she advances towards Nightwing, not pulling out any weapons just yet, though she keeps her hands loose and ready at her sides.

Then she speaks audibly, not very loudly, but Dick is right there after all, "You want the lead, because it looks like we'll have to get up where the stairs used to be." With that, she absently glances down, making sure she has the grapple gun tonight.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Nightwing nods to Batwoman as she arrives, and comments, "I hate surprises. Or, at least these kind." He scans the room a little bit and stows his escrima sticks. "Yeah, probably best if I go in first. Let's just hope he didn't leave something right at the top.

With that, Dick takes a few paces back and then goes into a sprint and a leap, finding himself on the top of the stairs with ease, again getting his sticks out in case of a threat, dropping into a defensive stance.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Jason had, in fact, left about six "somethings" at the top of the stairs.

However, it would be very clear to Dick due to the amount of damage in wall, floor, ceiling, door frame, door, and bits of talon laying about that they've all gone off.

Kate Kane has posed:
Batwoman isn't quite the acrobat that Nightwing is, instead preferring to fire the grapple gun up. Since Nightwing didn't trigger an explosion on landing... well, she figures it's good enough to get up, zooming up and landing behind Nightwing in a crouch. She arches a brow at the presents left behind, "Thorough."

Valeria Richards has posed:
The door has been either blown or slammed off its hinges, with only a bit of it hanging open, the rest of the door... well, missing or in broken pieces around the landing and inside the foyer. The foyer leads into the living area. There's a couch (destroyed), a TV (knocked off the wall and shattered), an open door into the bedroom (bed messy), a foyer closet (door broken, rubble inside and scattered out the broken door), and then a open portion of the wall leading into to the kitchen (also smashed up).

The windows are all kicked in. There are scattered shells and bullet cases all over the floor. A single molar tooth rests on the floor, discarded, near the broken television. The bookcases near the windows in the living room are most intact, though there are some bulletholes through some of the books. The hard 'wood' floor has a giant pair of intertwined circles carved into it with what looks like a knife.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick is concerned by the destruction around here, "It's a war zone..." he mutters and then nods to Kate as she grappels up, "Yeah, Red Hood doesn't half-ass anything, especially if it goes 'boom'!" He takes a breath and scans the room, noting the molar, but will deal with it later. "Watch out for those circles. I do not know /what/ they do, but I do not think we want to find out. We just need to find the safe room."

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate nods, "Yeah, no kidding. Behind the bookcases, maybe? Considering the carnage around here, the fact that they're still intact stands out a bit to me." She smiles wryly, slipping a hand into her utility belt and pulling out... a tweezers and an evidence bag. With that, she gently collects the molar by the TV, dropping it in the bag for later. Bruce has better equipment for analyzing that, anyway.

"Oh, I don't know if you got the word, but apparently the zombie-Talons are vulnerable to cold. Sadly, we only had the one freeze ray in the trophy room." She smirks a bit, glancing over towards Nightwing after making quite sure to avoid the circles carved in the floor.

Dick Grayson has posed:
"Oh, so you've heard?" Nightwing comments dryly. He then notes, "Unless they changed up their fighting style, all I've seen them use are blades, so the bullets likely came from Red Hood." Dick moves towards the bedroom door, sticks up and tries to peak into the bedroom without touching the door.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The bedroom is a bit messy.... like you'd expect from a 21 year old male with an obsession with guns and punching people, if we're honest. The closet door is open. The bed is unmade, and very messily so. On one bedside table is a pair of bracelets, and the slight glow of a cell phone can be seen through one of the blankets that's been knocked to the floor. (Oh, and there's a pair of junior's sized jeans and boots tossed in a corner, as well).

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate hrms, "Some of them in the Cave had man-catchers they were using to try and snatch the kid. Didn't work, though, but that's a pretty gutsy play by them to do that. I guess subtlety got tossed out the window." She glances at the bookcase, but stays fairly close to Nightwing, backing him up if he needs it.

Dick Grayson has posed:
"Huh, well, that makes sense," Nightwing says, carefully scanning the room. "Well, she might not be far," Dick says, looking around the room. He checks for a trip wire before stepping in and uses the end of one of his sticks to pick up the blanket over the phone, to get a look at it.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The cell phone is obviously Valeria's (did the bright Fantastic Blue case give it away?). Jason's phone is facedown on the other nightstand. This should be clear that whatever happened, happened fast.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate frowns slightly, taking a /very/ careful look at Jason's phone before going to pick it up. Not that she's suspicious about claymores being hidden by the phones, but the fact that it wasn't grabbed does peak her interest.

"Anything on her phone?" Because the Fantastic Blue case is a bit hard to miss. "If he tossed her in quickly when the Talons came in..." She pauses, taking Jason's phone once she's satisfied that there's no booby trap.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Nightwing reaches down and takes the phone and turns it on, though he turns to Kate, "Any idea for the password?" He thinks for a few moments, still keeping an eye on the window in case anyone comes for cleanup.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Both phones are locked. Functional, but locked. It seems the talons weren't interested in picking up phones. As it goes, the bedroom has the least amount of damage and bullet holes (though several hidden guns laying around).

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate shakes her head, "No idea. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't be that predictable about it... we can probably crack them back at the Cave if we need to, but I doubt it matters for the here and now." She mmms, "So, where would Jason stick a saferoom that he could toss Val into quickly before a million Talons attacked?"

Dick Grayson has posed:
"Best to keep these on hand, then," Nightwing says and stows the phone away, along with Jason's phone. He then looks around the room, "I would probably have one in here, assuming the most likely place to be when ambushed would be the bedroom." But he thinks a bit more.

Dick begins carefully tearing the room apart, keeping an eye out for parts where a door could have skid or left a scrape of some sort on the floor.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The bedroom, even the closet, shows no sign of any additional escape routes (though maybe Jason might change that once he rebuilds. Never know with him). Also, none of the furniture in here has been moved or knocked over or damaged in a way that might indicate something is 'stuck'... the bedroom is largely normal looking. Just a messy bedroom.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate nods, doing likewise as she keeps a careful eye out for any possible surrpises left by the Talons. Or Jason, for that matter. She chuckles, "I would say something about paranoia, but you haven't seen /my/ saferoom plans, either." She shakes her head, moving back out to the living room and looking carefully at the intertwined circles carved into the floor. She crouches down, looking around for any indication that there's more than meets the eye about that spot.

Valeria Richards has posed:
The circles seem recently carved. Very recently, as the cut marks look fresh.

Dick Grayson has posed:
"Fair, though I am getting ideas for mine," Nightwing says as he frowns and leaves the room, seeing Kate standing over the circles, "Any idea what's going on with that?" He asks as he goes over to the TV and picks it up, curious to see what is underneath it.

Kate Kane has posed:
"Recently carved, though it's curious as to /why/. Jason didn't really have time, and well... why would the Talons do that?" She moves slowly around the perimeter of the circles, trying to see if there's any trace of movement in the floorboards that might indicate a trap door. Or possibly frustrated Talons trying to get in and failing to do so...

Valeria Richards has posed:
The circles don't show any chipping or evidence they were made to get IN to something. But... the pattern looks like the pattern Jason and Tim had reported back from the "murder room" they had found above the old bank building.

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick sees nothing under the TV> "Making a note to buy him a new TV," he notes. He then heads towards the closet and begins clearing the rubble away, trying to see what could be under it, after checking for traps first, but figures that Jason does not keep a stockpile of rubble in his room..

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate takes a photo of the carving for future reference, then goes to the bookshelf. Absently, she starts investigating the books, just on the off chance that there's a trigger there. The bookcases were solid enough to not move in the fight, so it seems like just as likely a place as any at this point.

Valeria Richards has posed:
No traps, but there is an innocuous panel on the wall of the foyer closet. It looks like a cheap security panel at first glance, but at second, it's got a fair number of upgrades... and is likely where all the booby traps were armed from.

Under the rubble, however, there is an almost invisible seam of a square trap door just large enough for an adult human to fit through. However, it's sealed: there's no clear handle or easy way to open it.

Perhaps the panel.

Dick Grayson has posed:
"Found something," Dick says, and opens the panel and types in a quick series of characters, assuming Jason kept the usual protocols. The satisfying sound from the panel causes him to breathe a sigh of relief, and he opens the door.

Kate Kane has posed:
Kate moves over towards the closet, "Interesting." She looks at the panel with a professional curiosity, making a few mental notes while Nightwing gets it open...

Valeria Richards has posed:
The trap door opens into a concrete bunker painted a clean white. There's a cot, some MREs, bottled water, a few other emergency provisions...

And Valeria Richards, looking frazzled, her hair mussed, wearing nothing but a pair of panties and a thin white tank top, staring up at Nightwing and squinting. Behind her on the wall is another panel, one of the screens showing video of the living room, the other screen obviously shorted out. "The frag grenade wrecked the system," she scowls up. "I barely got it working again to get a call out." She's already made a list of improvements, once they get Jason back, which //they will do//. Or else.

"Can you help me up? It's kinda far and I'm not all acrobatic like you bats."

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick breathes a sigh of relief as everything seems to be working so far. He then says, "Well, glad you're all right, at least. Good call on fixing the comms. But yeah, we can help you up," Dick lowers a rope down and ties it off on the door, "Sorry we could not get here sooner."

Kate Kane has posed:
Batwoman nods, "Yeah, it's been a little busy, but it's good to see you're okay, Valeria." She takes a step back from the closet, giving Nightwing space to get Valeria up and out of the safe room.

Valeria Richards has posed:
Val grabs the leather jacket she had abandoned on the cot (it had been getting stuffy in there, another thing to improve) and slides it on before not-too-gracefully scrambling up and out of where she had spent the last few hours. "I told him to come in with me," she huffs angrily. "Instead he shoves me into a box and gets himself... zombie-napped. When you get him back, I'm going to strangle him." The idea that they might not get him back hasn't really hit yet. "They didn't want to kill him. He shot a lot of them..." and blew them up, and hacked and slashed, and really was a one-man wrecking crew...

She looks around the living room. "I don't know what they said to him. The mic and speaker from the safe room got shot out in the whole mess. I'm just glad the camera worked."

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick pulls Valeria's phone from his belt pocket and offers it to her, "Here you go." He frowns as Val explains what happened. "We'll get him back or die trying, you can trust me on that," Dick says. He may be almost eternally hopeful, but dang if this does not sting. "Well, if they want him alive, that gives us time." He ponders.

Kate Kane has posed:
Batwoman gives Dick a wry smile, "Well, if Batman can get those cyro grenades working... that will definitely help the odds. And yeah, they want him alive for something, and they wanted Robin for the same when they attacked the Cave, so the question is why." She nods slightly towards Valeria, taking in her report about what happened.

Valeria Richards has posed:
She takes her phone, and blushes slightly as she goes to slide it into pockets she's not wearing. She glances towards the bedroom, then gingerly picks her way across the mess and the bullet casings in bare feet, grabbing her bracelets off the nightstand and sliding them on. With a quick twist, her bodysuit rolls out over her form, at least covering her up. She looks around, frowning, and looks at the circles carved on the floor. "One of the weird zombies in a suit and a flat, plain mask without any features? uh... did that. No clue why."

Dick Grayson has posed:
Dick nods to Batwoman, "Yeah, those will go a long way. No need to fight fair in this one," he scowls and thinks as Valeria goes to change. "Suit and a flat mask? So full on Phantom of the Opera?" Not the strangest approach taken in Gotham, but still worth noting. "That is strange..."

Kate Kane has posed:
Batwoman nods, "Definintely. There's something more going on here, obviously. These weren't just mindless zombies, they obviously have a plan." She hrms, "We should regroup back at the Cave. Miss Richards, we can take you with us so you can proper strangle Jason once we rescue him, else we can get you back to the Baxter Building. It's up to you." She smiles faintly, radiating confidence that they will get Jason back.