6538/Outsiders' Saturday

Outsiders' Saturday
Date of Scene:	12 June 2021
Location:	Level 4 - Recreation - The Roost
Synopsis:	Just another weekend at the Roost
Cast of Characters:	Conner Kent, Bart Allen, Hope Summers, Laura Kinney, Roy Harper, Phoebe Beacon

---

Conner Kent has posed:
It is another Saturday afternoon at the Roost and as usual in weekends, Conner is around. Sprawled on a couch by the rec room, he has brought down his old laptop and is typing furiously on the keyboard. There is a stack of printed paper at the table (think about the trees!) and a bottle of soda, mostly empty.

On one of the TV screens there is some music program going, but he killed the sound to better concentrate. He really should have just turned it off, but he forgot.

It is odd he is studying here and not in his room. Maybe he was expecting to do something else.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen comes into the rec room, having just fed Mr Murder Mittens. He sees Conner typing and is over looking over Conner's shoulder with a "What ya doing?" question. Bart knows personal space for some people, but Conner, and Tim, not so much. He does notice the papers, and is over there reading through them and back waiting for Conner's answer.

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope Summers isn't in school or anything, so she's not really studying.But she is sitting at the table, pouring over one of those cybernetic weapons they grabbed from the warehouse in madripoor, before they blew it up. Because it's a weapon, and she loves weapons. They grabbed enough to have a few spares, so she's having quite fun reverse engineering it and examining its capabilities.

Laura Kinney has posed:
A short while later Laura slinks into the Rec Room, bare feet padding near silently against the floor, with an aromatic hot pepper sandwich. Her own recipe in fact! In that it's a sandwich made with nothing but hot peppers and hotsauce. No meat, salad or anything else.

She finds herself an empty chair and sprawls lazily.

Given just how long it takes someone with a healing factor power to get tired it's clear she's been awake a while. Probably several days of patrolling without any breaks.

Conner Kent has posed:
There are printed documents in half a dozen different languages. Including Arabic and Chinese. Only about a third of them are in English, and those seems a variety of stories, reports and articles relating Garmorra. Some are decades old.

"Hey Bart. I'm writing an article for the college newspaper." Explains Conner. "This place, Gamorra, it really creepy and weird. There almost no information about it. Not even in the wiki. Reporters, even American reporters, trying to investigate, have been murdered for decades. That place seems like a... cyberpunk dystopia ruled by mafia families or maybe ninja clans."

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope Summers hmms, "Gamorra. How..Strange. Even the weaponry is..Quite advanced. A decade or two ahead of the US army." she's examining a cybernetic arm in particular, taking it apart piece by piece. "Wow, where'd they get this stuff? Who are these..Gamorrans even?"

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen will look over Hope's shoulder next, and sees if he recognizes anything in the arm from his own time. He then hmms, and sorts the papers into piles by languages. "Want me to translate them for you?" He asks Conner trying to be helpful. "Oh speaking of odd things, Titans got a bleep seems someone is trying to sale Pandora's box." He offers, "And they talked about a get together, even talked about contacting some of your people." He says looking to Hope and Laura.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Could be any number of things," Laura ventures for Hopes benefit. "Enhanced intelligence mutation, rogue time traveller, corporation doing illegal R&D and testing it by selling on the black market.... The list goes on really." She takes a bite of her sandwich. "Besides being ahead of the US military isn't that great an achievement. They only buy weapons after years of development and testing, once they're certain everything works and they can mass produce them."

She pauses and shifts in the chair so she can at least look at the rest of the Outsiders. Making an effort to be social!

"Both the Avengers and the Justice League have tech which is far ahead of what most wealthy nations have access to."

Conner Kent has posed:
"Eh, I know what they say, Bart," replies Conner, glancing at Hope briefly. "But I had to dig all over the darknet using the Roost systems. There is almost nothing in the regular Internet. It was weirding me out."

Who are the Gamorroans? Oh. History lesson time. "For what I got clear, this island south of the Philippines was taken over by Japanese pirates in the Seventeen Century. There is not much of interest, the pirate kings were from a family called Gamorra, which doesn't even sound Japanese, but early in the Twenty Century the island was considered part of Japan. Until after the Second World War. They were an independant republic for a few years, then the Gamorrans returned and took over. Then... pretty much nothing, total insulation, vague rumors of quick industrialization and horrible atrocities. Still strong ties to Japan, though." He looks at Laura. "More like crime families than corporations. But maybe there is not much difference, deep down."

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope Summers nods to Laura. "Orr, could be from the future. Heck, maybe they're not even from earth. Just wish I could get more info on them..." she arches a curious brow at Conner. "Oh really? Some Japanese pirates? Sounds like a highly exclusive private island full of powerful and highly advanced people. But if their weapons are popping up in Madripoor, could be branching out?"

She sighs, "As if we didn't have enough problems dealing with NOWHERE..But at least I finally got a potential lead on them.." she draws a deep breath, setting the cyborg arm down for a moment. "I found this little black market operation going down in a seedy part of town..They were selling weapons like the ones NOWHERE used.."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and as Hope mentions NOWHERE, maybe it clicks in Bart's head, or maybe something else got it "Oh speaking of NOWHERE, they had some guy named Dr. Templar, who claimed he was from the future, and had a Plasma guy in a containment suit, and a girl who could shoot lasers out of her eyes, try to kidnapped Nadia." He will continue talking as he pulls out his phone sending a text. "He was able to stop pym particles, but ran away when they were going to call in the titans or the avengers.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Corporations are just crime families with less well developed ethics," Laura states. She did after all grow up in the 'care' of a corporation. "I'll have to read up on the records we have on the Gamorra." Background research is generally something she does before any mission. But between the Outsiders and X-Force it's been a busy few weeks!

"Was it just my imagination or did the cyborgs in Madripoor remind anyone else of the NOWHERE operatives?" She muses. "Is it possible one group has purchased from the other? Or that NOWHERE has kidnapped Gamorra members?"

When Hope mentions a lead she perks up. "In Gotham? Where? Do we have any information on which gangs operate in the area?"

Conner Kent has posed:
"Wait, what?" Conner almost drops the laptop when both Hope and Bart start talking about NOWHERE. "Damnit guys, you gotta tell us about this kind of thing sooner." Well, for Conner it is a bit personal.

"Who is Nadia?" He asks Bart, trying to remember if he is supposed to know anyone called Nadia. He is bad at names. "Hope, what is this lead, c'mon, we need to follow it before they cover it up."

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope Summers frowns, "Sorry Conner, things git a little busy with the trip to Madripoor. However.." she glances at Laura, "Actually I was in Metropolis, checking up on rumours of a black market. Specifically the Suicide Slums in New Troy. I did some looking around in their market square, and I discovered a group of three people who were selling weapons that very closely resembled..Well, it looked like earlier versions of NOWHERE weaponry. Assault Rifles. Being sold by a trio of brothers. Metas. There was a guy there who helped me out. Said they worked for NOWHERE, that they dont usually operate out of the US. Soo..Oh yeah, I think the guy who helped me said they were mercenaries, should be easier to find em than Templar at least."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Waspette, she is the girl who can shrink and is always building something in the lab." He offers to explain who it was. "I just found out about it recently. I went over for a Bar B Que, and had to leave for work early, so went back over last night to catch up on their files. It happened a while ago, but I am sure, Nadia has been working on ways to track them, might want to talk to her about it. I can introduce you if you don't know her.

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney takes another bite of her sandwich, considering the conversation, then shrugs. "We'll have to start monitoring the location," she muses. "Perhaps we could get some of the Titans to help with recon? They're invested now one of their team has been targetted. And local enough they should know the area."

She glances at Bart and there's a short laugh. "If they have advanced enough tech to stop pym particles I doubt they'll be easy to track with mad science." A shrug. "What we need is legwork and better tradecraft than them... And we should entertain the possibility the lead we have is a trap."

Conner Kent has posed:
Okay, not a Nadia he was supposed to know. Conner leans back and sighs. "Okay, uh... yeah, we gotta talk with Waspette. Can you arrange for that, Bart? And Hope, lets find those guys." Wait, could it be a trap? He looks at Laura. "Why do you think it could be a trap? Sometimes you remind me a lot to Tim."

That was kind of a praise, by the way. "I guess we could assume it is a trap but still go after them. We have been waiting for a lead to follow for weeks."

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope Summers hmms and nods to Bart. "Might be a good idea. We should have a chat with Nadia." she frowns, "Okay wait, so this Templar guy is from the future and working for NOWHERE? then it's possible their tech is from the future?" or it could be just that individual. "Oh right, I believe Red Robin and Ravager fought the three brothers, and Templar himself. I'll re-read the report for more details, give us an idea of what we'd be up against."

She nods to Laura, "It's always possible it was a set up, but either way it's worth checking out. We should scout the area, try and catch those three alone. There were lots of other armed criminals in that market place. I'd rather not have to deal with them too."

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper makes his way in, pulling off the bandanna he was wearing to hide his voice on the motorcycle ride over. Yeah, he's got a mask, but he wasn't really on business and it's easy enough to hide your face in less dramatic ways. His hair is nearly shorn in an undercut, long on top and short on the sides. He's wearing a pair of jeans and sneakers, shedding his biker jacket to reveal a sleeveless black shirt with the masked visage of Jason Voorhees on the front.

"Damn, got a full house today. Oh, crap, was there like a team meeting or something? I busted my phone a couple days back fighting a couple of skeezeballs near Gotham dump and Ollie hasn't gotten me a new one yet," he says, heading over to the snack area and wondering if anybody had confiscated the beer he'd squirreled away in the fridge.

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen shrugs a bit and says "I just read her report, don't know the details, but." He zooms off and in a moment is back with a thumb drive, and downloads something into the computer "There is the footage they got. From what I seen the stuff does not look very future tech." He comments, but when he thinks future tech he thinks 31st century.

Laura Kinney has posed:
"My logic is as follows. You have the technology, skill and resources to kidnap metas around the world. To build advanced weapons and armour without anyone even knowing you exist. And seemingly to try kidnap people connected with the Avengers," Laura explains solemnly. "And then suddenly you start selling your old things off in the city Superman operates in."

She gestures at Roy with the sandwich. A greeting perhaps?

"Doesn't that sound like a baited hook to you? They must know people are after them now. The Titans are based in Metropolis perhaps they hoped to lure them in, find out what they know, then kill them." A beats pause. "That's what I'd do if I were them anyway. But we should still risk investigating. If it's not a trap then we can't let advanced weapons get sold to criminal gangs. And all I need to do is get close enough to smell them and I can try follow their movements back to any base they might have."

Of course that's not exactly true. If she was in their position no-one who knew she existed would have lived this long....

Conner Kent has posed:
"Well, Bart," comments Conner. "They cloned me, and I think Jon-El was the template. And Jon is from the future," and cloning Kryptonians is not something anyone else can do. "Plus the cyborgs seem pretty advanced, right?" Glance to Hope, who is also from the future.

"Hey Roy," he greets the other redhead. "It is Saturday, we usually come here to hang out Saturdays. Only most days we watch movies, this is, uh? We are plotting operations, I guess."

Laura's reasoning seems mostly okay. Although, "the secret agencies did know they existed, just not in America, Laura. Maybe they did sell weapons in other countries. Uh, Tim said they provided high tech stuff for money to governments and other organizations."

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope Summers smiles and waves to Roy, "Hey, we were just talking about a potential lead on NOWHERE." she nods to Bart, "Depends how far into the future you're thinking really. Conner is right...Hmm.."

She nods to Laura as well, "Those are all very good points, but we should still check it out, shut down whatever they're doing, and Robin and Ravager's report also seems to confirm they are working for Templar, an operative of NOWHERE. so there is some credit to those claims."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods, and says "And maybe check out the other weapons dealers, you never know, might have been doing it for a while under a different name, but why would they admit to NOWHERE now. He hmms, and says "Maybe it is an advertising game, letting some of their older stuff come out so they can sell newer stuff for more money?"

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper stares for a second at Conner, "Oh, crap, is it Saturday? Damn. I thought it was Thursday. Crap."

He makes his way over and grabs a chair for himself, a bag of cheez doodles in his lap as he rips it open and starts digging in.

"Oh, right, thos dickheads. Sharpie there," he says, gesturing at Laura, "is right on the money, though. Smells like chicken feed, all drizzled out there waitin' for us to come a-peckin' and then they swoop in and BOOM heads get cut off. Except yours, Con, your neck's way too thick for that."

"Which doesn't mean we shouldn't do nothin'. I like falling into a good trap myself."

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney rolls her eyes when Conner mentions secret agencies. "Yes but groups like SHIELD like having that sort of rogue operation around," she points out matter of factly. "They like having deniable assets. I expect SHIELD would make NOWHERE a subdivision if they thought they could get away with it. Spies are as bad as any criminal or corporate group. Worse usually."

"I think we all agree we should look into it then?" she pauses to give people time to speak up. "But with extreme caution. It's... almost irrelevant if they're from the future or using alien tech. It's not like we can just edit the timeline to prevent them ever becoming a threat." She blinks a few times, then frowns at Bart. "Or can we?"

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner nods, he knew about Templar. They just couldn't find him. No comment either about the advertising tactics of clandestine organizations. No idea. "Really Laura. I thought SHIELD was okay... oh, the DEO are creeps. Most of them. I did met a couple agents that were okay, though."

"We really need to see if we can grab those weapon traffickers, though," he insists. "May be a trap. But it might be they also do sell weapons, and those guys probably know far more from NOWHERE we do right now."

Hope Summers has posed:
Hope Summers hms and nods, climbing to her feet, taking the cyborg arm wuth her. "Right, either way, we need to investigate this. in the meantime I'll do more research on these brothers. Hey guys, it's Saturday, try and enjoy the rest of your weekend. See you later."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "I don't think so, I mean, yea I could run into the past and a lot of things are the same, but there are different things going on than I read about. It seems more the whole divergent time line type thing.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper shakes his head and pushes up in his seat, "Nope, nope, no time travel, I'm not going to end up fighting dinosaurs or meeting my own grandpa or any of that stuff. I mean, Bart's probably already met his own grandpa and I bet it was really weird and you could barely make eye contact. Or maybe you're a freak and it's totally cool,l either way, not for me."

"I mean, can't we just find these guys and kick their butts? Isn't that what we do?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney gives Hope a farewell wave, then takes another bite of her remaining sandwich. "SHIELD are just better at keeping the dirty secrets hidden," she assures. "Trust me, I've run into the less savory elements of SHIELD before."

She shakes her head.

"I'd say I find going over operational matters enjoyable but then everyone would just try and claim I'm no fun again." A shrug. "I was briefly turned into a dinosaur last year. Can't recommend it."

Conner Kent has posed:
"Eh, no time travel, please," that is a headache Conner is not willing to touch with a ten foot pole. And Laura is being surprisingly vehement. He was getting used to the quiet young woman, but she is changing.

"Yeah, I don't like going over operational matters, but sometimes it is necessary." He closes the laptop, he will write the article when he is alone. "Okay, there are ways to find mercenaries, yes?" He looks at Roy and Laura. "How do we go to contact with these guys? Also, didn't Tim say they could teleport? We need to check again his action report."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over, and says "I can go knock on doors, but don't think that is the leg work ya meant. And I have met my Grandpa, it was more weird for him than me, but then again my grandma helped send me back in time to here to find Wally, to help me out, and Wally aint my granddad, but he is Irie's dad." HE says of the other future speedster.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper just stares a long time at Bart, "Sometimes I'm glad I'm an orphan. Like now."

"I mean, I guess so. I never have to hire anybody, although that's probably a good idea for when I get a bit older, doing some mercenary work. Uh, not that I dislike being a superhero, but being paid would be really nice. Ollie ain't gonna foot my bills forever and I ain't exactly swimmin' in employable skills."

He looks over at Laura, "Was it at least a cool dino? Like a velociraptor or a pterodactyl?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Some sort of raptor I think. It's not really my field," Laura says after a moments consideration. "I don't even know if it was a 'real' dinosaur. Don't they think a lot of them had feathers now?" Of course X-23 being a raptor will shock literally no-one who has met her...

The topic gets another shrug. Like she said it's not her area of expertise. "Just take money from criminals you fight. That's what I do. Store it in various caches for later use along with passports and supplies.."

"I was trying to make a joke when I suggested time travel. Perhaps my delivery was too dry?"

Conner Kent has posed:
"It is no one expect you to make a joke," admits Conner. "It feels far more likely you to would turn into a dinosaur. But hey, good for a fist attempt, I guess." He glances at Bart and Roy for moral support on this.

"I also don't want to know about stealing from gangsters, seriously," he adds as an afterthought. "Just get a job. I know I am going to. I think I have been living all my life in a parallel reality now. I had to go to college to really get how humans are supposed to live."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Sorry, people talk about time travel with me a lot." He offers in explanation "I got a night job, and then I do recycling to pay for my food bills. I hit different cities ussually spend a month in one state at a time. Have to keep moving about though.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper snorts at Conner, "Don't you dare get a job. You kow how humans live? Like shit. In misery. Because we have to have jobs and scrape ourselves to the bone just to live. You're an indestructible superdude, I will literally shoot you with explosive arrows every day if you get a job making sandwiches or delivering pizza. Sheesh."

"And it's not so m uch that I thought you were serious, Laura, as that Bart is, uh, impulsive and you might suggest it and then he hits a three point stance and before you know it he's run back thirty years and we're still sittin' here staring at the cloud of dust behind him."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Humans live so many different ways that how we are 'supposed' to live is often caught up more in cultural mores and --" comes a familiar voice, and Phoebe pauses, blinking a moment.

    "... wait, shouldn't Conner get a job?" she questions in curiosity and then rubs the back of her head. "Is... is this a money issue?"

Laura Kinney has posed:
Laura Kinney raises an eyebrow. "But I did both of those things," she points out. "Besides it's good that you can't read me. It means anyone I face will have trouble too." Presumably she's talking about combat and not an ill-fated career in stand up comedy. "I'm not stealing from gangsters. International arms dealers are much better targets as they have weapons, explosives and currency from multiple countries. If you're lucky you can also obtain bearer bonds."

She shifts her position on the chair to better see the rest of the team. "It's a perfectly viable strategy for off the book operations. Besides if you let Gotham PD find valuables at a crime scene most will be back in criminal hands before you've had time to find a gargoyle.."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe interjects: "I feel slightly called out there, but you're unfortunately right."

Conner Kent has posed:
"I plan to be a reporter," states Conner, "I don't think there is anything terrible into having a job and get paid for it. Yeah, I could survive with just sunlight and live in the North Pole where the rent is cheap." That is a crack to Superman, sadly lost because no one gets the reference. "But I think I rather live in a city, and have friends, a home, go to the movies, weekend barbeques and maybe some day a family."

Weird, uh? Just how half-Kryptonian clones want the things they never had. And that most people think are boring.

"I saw Superman crush coal into diamonds with his hand," comments Conner. "It didn't work for me. But maybe in a few years." No more money problems!

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen looks over and says "Oh hey Phoebe." He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone opening it to something and hands it to her "Jay told me it is important for us to have normal lifes so we know what we are fighting for, if we detatch ourselves from humanity it will end badly.

Roy Harper has posed:
Roy Harper shrugs, "Yeah, being a reporter's not bad. That's, like, a job peope would want. But there are lots of miserable, shitty jobs. Don't do any of those out of guilt or something. But Superman should crush diamonds and, like, pass them out. To me. But other people, too," he grins. It's hard to tell exactly how serious Roy is about any of this.

He fingerguns at Phoebe, "I'm just saying, I've lived a regular life. And it really sucked. A lot."

Laura Kinney has posed:
"Why the North Pole? There are plenty of small tropical islands you could claim," Laura points out earnestly. "Just keep in mind if you crush diamonds they'll have no serial numbers etched in. Meaning anyone who buys them without flagging it up with the authorities will likely be involved in criminal activities."

X-23 can't see a silver lining without making sure a cloud is attached...

She sits through all the normal life talk quietly. Using the time to finish off her food.

Finally she frowns and says "It's a good idea in theory. But it's impossible for some of us. There will probably always be people hunting me for one reason or another. At least for the next hundred or so years. After that I expect anyone who cared will be dead." She doesn't seem especially upset about it though. If trouble wants to look for her it has no-one else to blame for the result..

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe blinks a moment as she accepts Bart's phone. She looks down at it, and she gives the most adorable little squeaking noise at the picture that's on it, with a soft 'ohmigod fuzzy jellybeans!' -- and then realizes that they're talking serious items, and she rubs the back of her neck, handing Bart's phone back to him.

    "I don't know, there's something nice about the idea of a normal life... but with who we are... what we are... will we ever really have it?" she questions, and she puts her hand to her chest. "I lived the normal life. I had everything planned out. Then my dad was killed. Then I got powers. And then I found myself with an ethics quandry of helping with trying to fly under the Bat's radar until I got shot in a gangfight trying to get pictures of falcons."

    She purses her lips. "... apparently I don't make friends normally."

    " -- in any case -- those of us who've lived it might not find the charm in it for a long time, but there are days I miss it--" she then turns to Conner, and gives him a smile. "... and I can understand the want to feel like you're doing something, and having the normal life. Especially when you were never afforded the choice."

Conner Kent has posed:
Conner smirks, not commenting the kind of no-choices he was given and why he rebelled at them without really understanding. "I suppose the choice is the key. Once I got one, I needed to try everything. And I, hmm, likely will be here in a hundred years. No promises, but Kryptonian lifespan is long."

Maybe not under a yellow sun. No one knows.

"Back to the finding NOWHERE," he huffs. "So yeah, now we have a name. I will be checking the data in the Roost computers. Pity Rose is not around, I am sure she knows how to find mercenaries."

Bart Allen has posed:
Bart Allen nods his head a bit and says "I will tell Nadia you want to talk to her, about it and see if she knows anything." He offers as he takes his phone back, and says "I wanted to just be impulse, but I spent years learning to be Bart who has a normalish life."

Laura Kinney has posed:
"I would hope you're not planning to kill me though Conner," Laura points out. She sniffs the air cautiously. "Unless there is something I should know.." A beats long pause. "That was another attempt at humour." Her voice flat. Maybe she was infact just working out how to kill a Kryptonian?

Of course not! That'd be silly. Laura already worked out how she'd do that months ago.

"We have a city location too. We should be able to find out which gang or group claims the area and see if they have intel too. A group like NOWHERE must stand out to the locals and either they're working together or want them gone. Perhaps enough to help us out."