3442/Court of Owls: Red Dead Redemption Five - Polite Society

Court of Owls: Red Dead Redemption Five - Polite Society
Date of Scene:	19 September 2020
Location:	Undisclosed location in Gotham
Synopsis:	Promises are made, but can the Owls keep them... and would they?
Cast of Characters:	Tim Drake, Jason Todd

---

Tim Drake has posed:
Hours have passed since the nightmare. They have to keep believing it was a nightmare, because the alternative...

While they had slept, the bottles of water had been replaced, but nothing to eat. While the promises made by the Great Shadow are not explicitly being repeated in their minds, there is a small undercurrent of 'what if'. What if they gave into the lure of power, or at least pretended to, to get closer to the course, right? It wouldn't be like... they were really...

Tim lays back on the bed, tossing one of the empty water bottles up in the air and catching it to toss it back again. After their initial conversation as they had awoken, the two batlings had been relatively quiet, each caught in their own thoughts. Their own desires.

Jason Todd has posed:
The dreams of what the Darkness could offer still haunted Jason's mind but he does all he can to push those promises away, not content to sit in his pod, he rises from it and begins to pace the small room. He'd have paid a million bucks for someone to install a heavy bag in the room, he needed to hit something, he needed to /do/ something, to help him bleed off the dread that had risen inside of him since the encounter with the Darkness.

Tim Drake has posed:
The twisting shadowed form appears again in front of the door as Jason's pathway takes him away from it. "Good afternoon, Master Drake. Mr. Todd."

Tim sits up sharply. He files away that it's afternoon, or they at least want them to believe it is so... without a clock or windows, time is hard to keep track of. That means it's been at least a full day. "We told your demon friend to piss off," he says with annoyance. "So are we done here?"

"Hardly. You've only spoken to one of the Great Beings that we serve, that you //will// serve." That isn't so much forceful as fully believing this to be so. "The Great Shadow is... disturbing, I think, especially for young minds who have never conceived of his existence. The other, our Lord of Nightmares... he is somewhat easier to comprehend."

Already not liking that, Tim throws the bottle at the magical projection. It flies through and hits the wall on the other side. "Lord of Nightmares? Hard pass."

Jason Todd has posed:
The magical projection gets a foot through its face when it appears unless it dodges or teleports away. Jason knows it will do nothing but the doing of it makes him feel a little better, a little more in control of a situation he had lost control of long ago.

"I'm with Tim, hard pass on the Lord of Nightmares," as if there was a choice.

Tim Drake has posed:
"You guys need better branding," Tim adds. "Blood rituals, Great Shadows, Lords of Nightmares. This sounds like an absolutely terrible D&D game and I'm not here for it." Its bravado, but it makes him feel a little better. Might make Jason feel better too.

The projection flickers a little bit as Tim and Jason both make their assaults but reforms almost instantly. "You are afraid," he says soothingly. "I understand that. I was afraid when I was going before them the first time as well. They understand this, and forgive your denial of them. Believe me when I tell you that all you must do is listen. You will understand that what the great ones offer? This will change the course of your lives, for the better."

"Save me from religious fanatics," Tim grumbles under his breath. "Let me guess. Mind flayer tentacles again?"

Jason Todd has posed:
There's an actual amused snort from Jason at some of Tim's barbs. He was going to say something similar, 'sounds like one of your nerd games, Tim' which it did. That comparison gave him a moment of levity but only a moment before he returned to the unbelievable reality of their situation.

"Nah, putting a bottle of water on it being hooves and horns this time, classic devil stuff," Jason says trying to do his part to keep Tim's spirits up as well.

Tim Drake has posed:
There's a flash, and on the rickety table a tray with two china teacups on saucers appear. "Drink, and sleep. A far more pleasant way to speak to the great ones than before, yes?" He then disappears.

Tim eyes the cups. "Well, we can ignore them. We can drink them. They are either drugged or poisoned."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason looks over and gazes down into the cups before looking over at Tim. "Figure they're going to keep coming at us with this stuff until we do it, or they force it down our throats. What do you say we just do it and see what fucked up rabbit hole we fall down?"

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim lifts one of the cups, sighing. "Odds are it's not poison." And if it is...

He drains the cup, making a slight face. "Definitely something in it." He moves back over to the bed, sitting on the edge of it.

It's not instant, but after a few minutes, he yawns, then leans back, resting his back against the wall even as he tries to stay sitting upright. His eyes grow heavy.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason's lips twist with distaste at the flavour of whatever was in the drink, but otherwise he bears it stoically. It takes a little longer for him to feel the effects, but when he does, he goes to slump down by the wall rather than lay in the pod. A largely pointless show of defiance but one he was willing to make all the same.

Tim Drake has posed:
When they both awaken again, it's in the same room, though there's a bit of... difference. The owls on the wallpaper are bats, instead. The pod is a dark grey instead of a white.

Tim looks around, frowning a bit. He's alone in the room for a few minutes, which he uses to start rifling around to check for other differences, but then Jason appears where he had fallen asleep against the wall while Tim is looking through the empty drawer in the nightstand.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason sits up blinking before looks around. "Didn't it work?" he asks Tim before noticing the wall paper. He sniffs the air, just to see if they re-papered the place while they slept but there was no scent of paste. "At least the designs are better," he says as he gets to his feet.

Tim Drake has posed:
The door opens, and beyond it... not a hallway, nor anything recognizable to either of them, but the infiniteness of space and time, barely comprehensible to them both. A pathway made of interlinked circles of pinkish-purple energy stretches out from the doorway, the room they are in a box floating in eternity.

Tim pokes his head out to look, and then brings his head back in. "So, good news: there's a way out. Bad news: I have no idea where we are and I'm pretty sure when we get back we should sit on Bruce until he finds us a tutor for magic, because that looks like a //bunch// of magic."

Jason Todd has posed:
"What in the fuck..." Jason breathes as he looks out into the void beyond the door. He steps back a few paces until he's leaning on the far wall. "Yeah," he agrees. "After all this, it better be Zatanna." Though at the moment his mind is more on that strange void than it is on on fishnets.

"So, Lord of Nightmares, where the hell are you? Let's get your offer and we'll get the hell out of here."

Tim Drake has posed:
Some time passes. Even batlings, unafraid of most things, aren't going to throw themselves into the void unthinkingly. Finally, after they've both stared out the door long enough...

"I think we're supposed to follow the path. And I'm not exactly excited about it, but at this point, I'd rather go see what's out there than stand around here until we wake up. //If// we wake up." He shrugs at Jason. "You want point or tail?"

Jason Todd has posed:
"Great," Jason says pushing off the wall to walk with slow careful steps closer to the door. He peers at the path skeptically, but answers Tim with, "Point." It wouldn't do to show fear. Then slowly, very, very slowly he steps through the door onto the path.

Tim Drake has posed:
After Jason steps out onto the path of energy-circles, Tim follows, keeping a wary eye on the path behind them. They only get a few yards down the pathway before the door to the room slams shut behind them and disappears.

He mutters a curse under his breath. He had been afraid of that.

Jason Todd has posed:
Glancing back over his shoulder Jason suppresses a shudder at the vanishing of the room. "It'll come back, no way they went to this sort of trouble to just strand us in darkness." Though it's even money if he's saying that for Tim's benefit or his own. He presses on down the path walking a little faster now, eager to get somewhere in all this nowhere surrounding them.

Tim Drake has posed:
The pathway winds through the emptiness, breaking off towards doors of the same pinkish purple light at seemingly random. No one has spoken to them, no one has been seen on the path.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason presses on for a time, passing door after door, branch after branch until finally he turns down one of the branches and reaches out for one of the purple doors.

Tim Drake has posed:
As Jason looks in through the door, he sees another world. It's similar enough to the one they left behind, only the differences are subtle. Or perhaps NOT subtle at all. He sees himself as Red Hood, only this Red Hood is even more brutal than he has ever been. Behind him, Tim looks in, spying himself through the door as well. Hood and Robin on the other side of the door are being overwhelmed by the False Face Society. Laying on the floor behind them, clearly too wounded (or possibly dead) is Batgirl... one of the Batgirls. The red hair... Babs? Carrie? But blood is spilling out from her body.

Tim grips Jason's shoulder. "Should... are we supposed to help?" He reaches forward with his other hand, and the door zaps it. He shakes it a bit to lessen the sting. One way only, it seems. A visual, but nothing they can prevent.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason bashes his fist against the doorway's event horizon but finds no purchase, no give, he growls shaking his head at Tim, "Doesn't look like we can do a damn thing." He turns away from the doorway and goes seeking another.

What he finds is an image of himself seated behind Sionis onyx desk, grim, with wild eyes, behind him mounted on the wall are cowls and masks, blue, green, black, purple and in a place of pride on his desk a jar full of some sort of preservative fluid that distorts the view of the head inside, a head with a pale face, and red still smiling lips.

Jason turns away from this door too, barking at Tim, "Don't bother looking," as he moves on in search of another.

Tim Drake has posed:
Another doorway. Another equally horrific vision. And another. And another. All down the pathway, they watch themselves over and over again, fighting, dying, fighting some more. Some of them, they have girlfriends (and in one, it's apparent that Tim's dating Conner, who in that world also gets to die horribly to Kryptonite gas while Tim tries and save him only to die himself... that's pleasant). At least twice Red Hood is with Ravager, and one of those times he kills her himself.

Jason Todd has posed:
In another world Ravager kills Jason, another she kills Tim and presents his head to her father. Another world sees Doom regretfully vaporize Valeria and Jason as they lead a coup against him before he levels New York and Gotham in response. There's more mundane visions as well but no less horrible for it, Tim dying in the same fire that kills his father, before moving ahead to the future where wind blows nothing but ash through the empty remains of the Drake estate, never again to be occupied by the family who built it. Jason, laying on the street, bleeding out from a stomach wound after being shot in a fifty dollar drug deal gone wrong in the Narrows.

Jason looks pale by the end of it, even as he shouts, "Can we cut out the I't's a Horrible Life' shit and get to the point. I'll promise to ring a fucking bell so you can get your demon wings."

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim pulls them away from the last door, breathing heavily. "I don't know if anyone is listening. There has to be a door we can get through." He soldiers on, breaking into a run, feet pounding against the magical pathway and bypassing several of the doors before picking on at random. "We'll try this one."

The Bat Cave. Tim's hands push against the door, but there are no sparks. He doesn't get through, but at least it doesn't blast him. "Look. Jason. Home."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason curses as there's no reply. No word of what the point of all this is besides making their legs tired and hearts heavy. That last door being different though, that perks Jason up, even if he's wary, "Is it though?" Jason asks, though he can see Bruce now, with his back to them both. "Bruce!" he shouts uncertain if that is wise or if the figure that looks like their father can even hear him.

Tim Drake has posed:
It isn't their world. It's another.

Though they can only tell because they see themselves, and Dick, and Babs... all arriving, like they'd been summoned. It's a relaxed scene, even if everyone is in costume.

Bruce turns around from where he was working on something. He's too far away for Jason and Tim to hear what he says, but it can't be anything too bad... their alter-egos are standing there without stiffening, without coming to attention as they hear the details of a mission, or a problem. It must just be a normal 'family meeting' to catch up on things.

Tim relaxes a bit. "Okay, this door isn't zapping us at least. Maybe we can get in there. Bruce... maybe not our Bruce... but he'll be able to help." There's assuredness in his tone. Of course Bruce could fix it.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason is less worried about getting Bruce's attention as he is in studying their dopplegangers. The effect is weird, like watching video but real, he studies himself, and all the others. "Seems normal even if it isn't us," he says after a moment.

Tim Drake has posed:
Then they all stiffen. Batgirl's hand goes to her mouth. Nightwing takes a step forward, as if to reassure Bruce of something. Whatever he's saying, the kids aren't happy about it. Red Robin shifts from foot to foot. Red Hood's fist clench.

"What did he say to them? I wish we could hear..." Tim murmurs, curious. He presses his ear to the force field on the 'doorway'.

He didn't need to. The next thing Bruce says is clear. "I bet you never prepared for this!" And from beneath his cloak he pulls an automatic, fully equipped with armor piercing bullets. That latter part is clear as the sweep of gunfire cuts through all four of the 'kids' gathered around him, dropping them all to the floor as their costumes are not matched to the weapon.

It's Red Hood that is still moving, slightly, as Nightwing, Red Robin, and Batgirl lay glassy-eyed in pools of their own blood, reaching for a gun. But two shots point blank to his mask and he stops moving at all.

"Bruce" takes off his cowl, and laughs maniacally. His face is a twisted visage of what it once was.

Jason Todd has posed:
"Son of a-" he begins and the twisted Batman cuts down his protoges to the sound of laughter. "No!" Jason shouts kicking and punching at the door trying to get through, trying to get to Bruce.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim stares blankly. "What is going on here...?" he asks, visibly shaken.

-//You see this?//- a dark voice echoes in the vast void. -//This is your destiny. Every world where you align yourself with the Batman, it is the same. Death. Destruction. Chaos.//- Wings flutter in the darkness. -//They call me the Lord of Nightmares, but that is sadly untrue. I do not show dreams to you. I show you worlds. Hundreds of them. Thousands, more, if you wish to continue to see. But they all are shades of the same: the cape and cowl of Bat-man, of Bruce Wayne, casts a long shadow, and in that darkness you drown.//-

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason continues to pound on the doorway until the voice speaks and he rounds on it, blood seeping through the fabric of his gloves. "This is a lie," he says pointing back at the door. "It has to be, there's no way Batman kills his own like that. None. So if this is the best you've got you need to step up your game, tentacle guy did a way better job.'

Jason steps forward now, fists clenched, "Send us back."

Tim Drake has posed:
-//You will return to yourselves in a short time, Robin.//- That name echoes as if repeated. -//Isn't that all you are to him? Time is no consequence here. Let me show you how Batman regards his Robins...//- The door behind them, everything speeds up. Dozens of children, wild and murderous wearing the familiar 'short shorts of destiny' descend on Gotham, devouring it as Batman's personal army.

Always his personal army. Always the brightly clad children taking the attention away from the man in the dark cape in the shadows. Hadn't it been that way, time and time before?

But this time, the dark-cowled man's mouth is held in a rictus grin. No bat ears or eyes behind filmy white screens... a metallic X crosses the top of his skull. He is both the Joker, and Batman, and his children... when did he get so many children?... also have shark-like smiles and hideous laughter. -//Look too long into the darkness, and you become the darkness. My children offer you a chance to step into the light.//-

It's a lie. But it might sound very convincing.

Jason Todd has posed:
Rearing back of that distorted image of Batman, Jason turns from the doorway entirely unwilling to watch the man he somehow hated and looked up to in equal measure distorted and twisted like that, to see Gotham fall to soldiers in a costume that once meant the world to him.

"You're not wrong, we're pawns in his war, but he is not that /thing/," he points behind him at the doorway. "Either. No matter how long he peers into the darkness."

Jason on the other hand... he could feel the pull of that darkness with each look into its depths, with each new horror he encounters on the streets. "He's better than that," and Jason as well.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim shoots an angry look at Jason, but finds he can't argue the point about being a pawn. How can he? He knew that when he begged for the mask the first time. "We don't--"

"--believe you." Tim finds himself saying as he awakens, back in the room with the owls. He gets to his feet, moving to the door and slamming his fists on it. "No more of these stupid mind games. WHAT DO YOU WANT?"

Jason Todd has posed:
"You heard the man, just get to the fucking point," Jason growls at the disembodied voice. "We're done with this bullshit."

Tim Drake has posed:
The misty projection returns. "We want you two, isn't it obvious?"

Tim scowls, batting at the hazy projection. It feels cold as his hands move through it. "You want me to what? Take off one mask and put on another? And Jason, what do you want of him? To become your new pet assassin?" He's angry, but more than that. Everything he's seen, been offered... it hit him deep. Some of this... he wants more than he's dared let himself think about. The rest holds little and less appeal, but for the former.

Jason Todd has posed:
"I'm nobody's killer," Jason grits out. "If that's what you want out of me, you're going to be fucking dissapointed, if I'm not going to work for the Batman I am sure as fuck not going to work for whatever you are, and it sounds like Tim isn't down either, so send us the fuck home now!"

Though for all his curses and anger, some of it struck home, he wanted that power but it was the strings he was unsure about.

Tim Drake has posed:
"All we ask is that you sleep on it," the projection says, a smile in his voice. "Talk amongst yourselves. If you accept our offer, Master Drake, you will become a full member of the court, with all that entails. Power. Protection. Your family's survival assured. Your happiness assured. Whatever it is you want... we can make it happen for you. With you, because you would help guide the court. The seat your family has long held is one of the high seats, a seat with almost unlimited power." A pause. "And Mr. Todd would not be my new pet assassin, Master Drake. He would be //yours//. Many of the court have trusted Talons at their side to enforce their will. How you choose to enforce yours is between you and your Talon. You are the mask. He is the fang. I trust you understand now?"

Jason Todd has posed:
"Whatever Tim wants huh?" Jason asks, "How about you unmurder his fucking girlfriend, you assholes," he says before they get to what fate they have in store for him and he laughs the bitterest of laughs, "Fuck. You. I am not going to be his /anything/ let alone his personal murder zombie, so, if you're going to kill me just fucking do it now."

Tim Drake has posed:
"I'm sure you are both bright young men," the haze replies pleasantly. "Surely you recognize that death holds little power here. Of course she had to die."

A pause. "Bringing her back we knew might be a condition of your agreement, Timothy. We can make whatever you desire happen."

Tim stares at the haze. He glances at Jason, then, his jaw setting. He already had his own ideas on that. Not that he dared say them aloud in front of Jason. "Zombies don't do it for me."

"No," and the voice is darker, and more... sinister. "But you hold her soul inside yourself now, and only we know the proper ways to release it and bring her back intact. So. You can deny us, but then you've lost. And we kill you anyway. Or you can make the right choice. It's a pity we were unable to extract similar leverage over Mr. Todd, but alas."

Jason Todd has posed:
"So you say," Jason says, of the promise to return Rose to life. "Even if you're not full of shit, I know a little about coming back from the dead, it's not as happy a thing as people say," he says before looking to Tim, "Trust me Tim you don't want to put Rose through what I went through, not if you care about her."

Then when the thing mentions wishing he had similar leverage over Jason, he says, "You really don't, or the city would be leveled and you'd have Doom to deal with."

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim's expression goes blank, hiding any reactions he might have to the offer to bring Rose back, or Jason's thoughts on it. And he definitely doesn't admit to already having considered begging or threatening Damian to let him take Rose's body to the nearest Lazarus Pit, regardless of how bad the results might be. Bats are trained to conceal their emotions, their thoughts... but if anyone might be able to discern them, it would be another with the exact same training.

"Odds still aren't that great he won't," Tim says flatly, regarding Doom. "No telling what she might do to get Jason back. Might be wisest to let us go." If there is some magic that might allow it, Zee would surely know. Or she might know someone who would. He didn't have to rely on them. Did he?

Jason Todd has posed:
"Good point," Jason says, "Valeria really likes me and Doom really likes her, so, he may be in the middle of slaughtering your followers as we speak," he says with put-on conviction.

As for Tim? His schooled features are noted, and Jason hides his concern with the same sort of training along with another thing, the realization that unless they escape he was going to die in the hands of the Owls, because he was never going to be anyone's pawn again.

Tim Drake has posed:
"Sleep well." That's all the haze says before disappearing.

Tim sits back down on the edge of the bed, looking entirely too calm.

Jason Todd has posed:
Well he had them there, there was apparently no escaping those nightmares here, but the rest, Jason lets out a long sigh when they're returned to the room. He sinks back down by the wall looking over at Tim. "So, what are you thinking?" he asks him.

Tim Drake has posed:
"They have to be lying," Tim lies. "They can't do what they offer. And they need us more than we need them." He leans forward a bit. "Why?"

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason shrugs. "At this point, I've got no clue," he says, "None of this cult bullshit makes sense. All I know is we've got to look for our chance to get out of here."

Tim Drake has posed:
"What if we didn't?" Tim asks, idly. "What if we took them up on it. See what we can see from the inside." He pauses. "Hypothetically."

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason's lip curls in disgust, "No chance, there's no way they don't have ways to enforce this deal once it's made. We do that, we're nver coming back, trust me," he says, it was a feeling but while he didn't know demons and spirits, he knew people and nobody offered you a good deal unless they were damn sure they could get what they needed from you. "It's not worth it."

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim is silent for awhile, thinking. Brooding, as well, from the expression on his face... mostly but not entirely concealed. He glances towards the door, then back to the floor.

Jason Todd has posed:
Jason doesn't press Tim, he just watches him a frown still on his face, one so very much like Bruce might give, before giving his head a shake and getting comfortable by the wall. "Going to sleep. Don't make any deals while I'm out," he says, only half joking.

Tim Drake has posed:
Tim nods slightly. "Sleep well," he echoes the Owl's messenger. He doesn't make any promises.