7974/Breakout

Breakout
Date of Scene:	25 September 2021
Location:	Armagedda, Apokolips
Synopsis:	Catwoman, Ms. Martian and Batman rescue Red Robin from Apokolips ... sorta.
Cast of Characters:	Bruce Wayne, Selina Kyle, M'gann M'orzz, Tim Drake

---

Bruce Wayne has posed:
For many, Red Robin's disappearance had been a cause for great consternation. Fear of what had become of him, and just where Vundabar had taken him. Rather than give into the fear of losing another Robin, however, Batman had set to work. He'd taken readings of the energy signatures used by the Boom Tubes in the cavern and made some alterations to the Justice League teleporter in the Batcave. It was a cheap and nasty form of dimensional travel, but there was no time for refinement.

The call had gone out to Ms. Martian, summoning her to the Cave by way of a water-filled tunnel system deep beneath the Earth. No immediate way to tell exactly where it is, but then he's not all that concerned about revealing his identity. Both J'onn and Tim know, after all. Nevertheless, he's clad in a new form of Batsuit - more heavily armored, with a visor that covers his whole face and with a pair of glowing red eyes rather than the usual white. The entire thing is forged from some sort of black metal that seems to move with him like it were alive.

Behind him, the portal is open. It roars angrily, forcing a hot and fearsome wind through the usually cold and dank cave. The colony of bats screech high above, fluttering out into the night on leathery wings.

Selina Kyle has posed:
    Catwoman is nearby, leaning back against a wall beside a nearby stairway with her arms crossed and an indignant look on her face. Selina had assumed she was going! When she said as much, she was told very firmly that that was not the case. It lead to a little bit of a row that - going by her lack of high tech apparel - she didn't win, and she's still fuming a little bit.

    She shields her eyes with one raised hand when the portal opens, fringing a bit at the unnatural gust of wind before the initial surprise of it dies down. "Just to clarify..." Catwoman says, raising her voice a bit to be heard over the din, "... you have *no* idea where this actually goes?"

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
M'gann does not remain wet for long, it takes only a minor feat of telekinesis to expel all of the water droplets from the surface of her body. The young woman's usual cheer is not really in evidence though, oscillating between more subdued as she continues to grapple with having lost someone else who she was supposed to be protecting and a determination behind her eyes to get him back. All the powers in the world but in the end it seems like she can't really protect anyone when it counts and that fact has been weighing on her.

There is no hesitation as the Martian girl walks towards the portal, even if it were to tear her to pieces, there is very little in the way of injuries she can't bounce back from and maybe on some level she feels that if it is a painful experience, she deserves it.

But darker than usual emotions aside, she has a friend to save. "Let's do this." She announces as she strides through the glowing gateway to somewhere, hopefully Timwhere.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
"It goes wherever Vundabar took Tim," Batman explains flatly, performing a few preliminary checks on the armored suit he wears, "That's enough for me."

M'gann's determination is not unnoticed, and he nods his head to her. Even as she approaches the portal, however, he moves to go through first. He had his misgivings about bringing M'gann along, but it was this or the Outsiders finding a way to Tim themselves and he couldn't accept that risk.

He gives a glance to Catwoman, looking as though for a moment he may say something. But he holds it back. A moment later he steps through the portal, disappearing with a 'boom'.

The other side is a slum strewn with filth and covered in thick layers of ash and soot. A great throng of people, emaciated and wearing little more than rags, shuffle through the streets below. The portal lets out atop a great statue of a broad shouldered figure with its arms crossed, glaring down at the people below.

Selina Kyle has posed:
    It occurs to Catwoman to say or point out a number of things, but... they all sort of fall flat in her mind when compared to Red Robin's situation. Should they know more before going in? Absolutely. Can Selina really tell Bruce to wait that long while Tim is god knows where?

    No. No, she can't.

    Catwoman meets Batman's gaze, but similarly looks away when he does, grumbling softly. as they pass through the portal.

    The grim surroundings that greet the new visitors, the dread it inspires, the implications of each individual part of what they see, get summarized quickly.

    "fffffffFFFFF*FUCK!*"

    Catwoman's there.

    She's just there now.

    Nobody was around to see the last-second sprint. Which is good, it was probably not dignified.

    Selina takes all of this in with a slow rotation of her neck, her green eyes wide. Her exclamation was, at least, fairly muted, but there are bigger issues anywhere you care to look.

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
M'gann steps out of the other side of the portal into the back alleys of an Apokoliptan city. She almost falls off of the top of the statue, at least that's what it looks like until she realizes there is nothing under her and wills herself to float downward instead gracefully landing on her feet. "This, doesn't look like Earth." She comments stating the obvious. What she leaves out though is that it doesn't look too far off from the aftermath of when White Martians conquer a planet. "Though the people do look like humans. I will try to blend in." And no sooner does she say that than she has transformed herself, clothes and all to appear like one of the residents rather than a super obvious red haired green skinned Martian. "So, how do we find him?"

Tim Drake has posed:
    The first few hours of Tim's stay in Apokolips are... well, less than pleasant really doesn't cover it. At least he drifts in and out of consciousness for most of it, which probably saves him from worse treatment. Though General Vundabar and his Parademon minions have ever so kindly rolled out the welcome wagon for him.

    His bruised ribs and pounding headache are both very thankful for that.

    When he finally comes to properly, it's because he's been dumped on the floor of a grimy cell, nothing but bare walls and a murky, disgusting hole in the ground. The lack of movement is enough for Tim to pull himself together, force himself to ignore his aches and pains until they're little more than a nagging nuisance in the back of his head, and get his wits about him. Slow, steady breaths.

    Nearby, the diminutive Vundabar goose steps back and forth. A high-pitched buzz in Tim's ears resolves itself into the General's ranting and raving, which may have been going on for some time now. He can't really be certain.

    "How dare some pitiful Earthman disrespect the High General of Darkseid's Armies!"

    "Soon, you will suffer at the hands of my, the great Virman Vundabar's, brilliant traps!"

    "Nothing will get in my way now!"

    "I cannot be defeated by the likes of a such a pathetic whelp!"

    "You will die a gruesome and bloody death, you dis--wait. WHERE DID HE GO? GUARDS!"

    Because, sure, in the grand scheme of things, maybe Tim really is just a pathetic Earthman. No super strength, telepathy, magic power rings, none of that to save him from what is probably the most dangerous situation of his life. But he's also a Bat.

    A Bat with full access to his utility belt.

    He has the lock picked on the door and the two guards beyond it incapacitated via a tap of the taser-equipped ends of his staff within seconds. The hallway splits off into several different directions, and the sounds of Parademon guards echo off the barren walls, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. So there's really only one thing he can do.

    Tim runs.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
After the passage through the portal, he cannot help but turn and look at Catwoman. It's probably a good thing his face isn't visible behind the mask, because he's likely furious. But then, another part of him is much relieved to have her here even if it is a veritable hellscape.

<Red Robin - this is Batman,> he presses two fingers to his earpiece, narrowing his eyes sidelong at Catwoman, <Respond.>

"Remember, we're aiming for stealth," Batman tells the others, leaping down from the statue to land on a nearby rooftop, "We don't want to start a fight here. We have no idea what they've got in store. We get Red Robin and get out."

Selina Kyle has posed:
    Catwoman's anxious look wanders back to Batman, whose face can't be seen, but when Catwoman's imagination fills in the frown and glare, compells her to grin innocently and give a little finger-waggle wave. "It's fine." She says softly. "I have protection." She demonstrates by... pulling her goggles over her eyes. That's it.

    Yes, she absolutely knows how crazy this is. Albeit, she didn't know BEFOREHAND. If she'd suspected she'd be leaving *EARTH* she might have reconsidered this. Too late now, though.

    Catwoman skids down the side of the statue with her claws slowing her descent, carving lines into its surface before she hits the ground. "Sounds like a standard job to me." she purrs in response, her demeanor partly a defense mechanism right this second.

    "Not that I approve, but I don't suppose you keep track-" Catwoman's words stop dead as she watches M'gann transform. She recoils very slightly, stares for a moment, lifts one hand to point a finger at her for a moment, turns to Batman and says, "She can shapeshift." A pause. "*They* can shapeshift?"

    Catwoman looks from Batman, to M'Gann, and back again, then drops her arms and clears her throat. "I don't suppose you put a tracker on the kid?"

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
The Martian girl turned Apokiliptan resident shambles back towards where Batman and Catwoman are standing together, "Yes." She replies simply. "We can shapeshift."

She takes a breath and closes here eyes, "I will see if I can locate his mind." She tells them as she reaches out with her telepathy, invisible psychic energy emanating outward as she searches for the familiar mental presence of her lost teammate in this strange apocalyptic alien world.

<<Tim, are you out there? Don't be dead. Don't be dead.>>

Tim Drake has posed:
    In hindsight, the fortress of a man who enjoys sacrificing people to what Tim's imagination has deemed a tableau of Jigsaw-esque traps being a veritable labyrinth probably shouldn't be surprising. Though it doesn't really hit him until the fourth or fifth turn he takes down another identical hallway.

    At least he hasn't run into any other guards, yet. Maybe it's just as confusing to them.

    Tim pauses to take a breath after the next turn. It's risky, but burning through all of his stamina while he's still stuck down here is even more dangerous. Behind the lenses of his mask, his eyes close, briefly.

    The entirety of Gotham is etched in fine detail within his mind, down to the smallest alleyways, all of its twists and turns. He'll never match Bruce's encyclopedic knowledge of the city, but he's a Gothamite born and raised, too, lived there his whole life, except when his parents fled for a vacation home in Vermont after the events of No Man's Land. Plus, he just has the precise kind of analytical brain for maps.

    So he starts making a new one in his mind's eye as he starts moving again.

    His luck runs out a few minutes later, when a contingent of Parademon guards round a corner at the end of a long hallway he's halfway down. Tim doesn't give them a chance to react, because he's already racing forward, throwing an explosive batarang with one hand while the other retrieves his staff from its clip on the back of his belt.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    That was the Tim of some hours ago, and a lot has happened between then and now. The radio frequency that the Bats encrypt their communications on hisses with atmospheric interference.

    A few moments later, the crackle of a distant voice calls out "<<Br-->>" over the line.

    Another few seconds pass. Then, clearer: "<<This is Red Robin, do you copy Batman?>>" M'gann's telepathic reach will find Tim not long after, though the veil of exhaustion over his mind works similar to the mental tricks the Bats know to keep someone out of their thoughts. There's an undercurrent of weariness to his tone over comms, too, though probably only those familiar with Tim would be able to really hear it.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
Batman breathes an internal sigh of relief, adjusting the sensors to zero in on Red Robin now that they know he is at least nearby. The armored suit scans the horizon for a moment, tapping a button on the gauntlet that activates a soundless beacon for Tim to follow.

<Come to us. We have a way out>

"Ms. Martian ... " Batman begins by way of explanation for Catwoman, before stopping himself, "We can discuss that when we get back. For now, just remember she's a friend."

"We have him," he tells Catwoman with an audible sigh of relief, "We just need to get him here and out of the portal. Then shut it down."

To punctuate his words, he produces a batarang with an ominously red glowing beacon on it. He holds it in his hand for a moment before flinging it, watching it embed in the face of the statue the portal rests atop of.

Selina Kyle has posed:
    "God." Catwoman mumbles when M'gann confirms her power, and Batman vouches for her. "No wonder you're paranoid all the time."

    Catwoman visibly straightens up when Batman relates Red Robin's survival. Her eyes are obscured the goggles, but she seems relieved as well. "Right." She agrees. "Leaving that thing open was a bad enough idea when we thought it just lead to *Prussia.*" She knows they didn't, that's not the point. She watches the batarang embed itself in the statue with one hand flat over her brow. "Right, then. Which way, boss?"

M'gann M'orzz has posed:
A close observer might note M'gann's feet are not actually touching the ground either. When her mind finds that of Tim, a look of profound relief spreads across her demeanor. "He's alive, but near the limits of exhaustion." She states for the benefit of Batman and Catwoman. "But maybe..." She trails off as she begins focusing on the now located mind.

Tricks are all well and good but few things can keep out a determined Martian and M'gann is gifted even by their standards. Still she's never tried this particular trick before. The human mind in extreme situations is capable of some rather amazing feats, the little understood ability for the mental to cross over into the physical allowing things like releases of vast quantities of adrenalin letting old ladies lift cars and the like. It was one of the theory classes M'gann may have slept through back at the White Martian Academy back on Zythel.

Now though, Tim is in trouble and she already let him down once. Now isn't the time for self doubt, gathering up her psychic energy M'gann reaches deep, deeper than she would ever normally go especially with her friends who value their privacy, reaching to the place where Tim's normally inaccessible hidden reserves lie and with great effort drawing them to the surface.

By the time she finishes her breathing has become heavy from the exertion even if she didn't actually appear to move at all. "I've helped him as much as I can, but we need to hurry!"

Tim Drake has posed:
    Easier said than done, at this point. Tim slumps against the wall at his back, hands braced on his knees. He takes a few deep breaths, because the burn in his lungs is currently worse than the pain of his ribs.

    They're probably broken, at this point. Not an uncommon injury for a Bat, and the body armor has something of a constricting effect, which is helping to some degree.

    "<<Understood,>>" he says, but Tim doesn't actually start moving. He can do this, though. He just needs to catch his breath. Find his third or fourth or fifth wind. The buzz of approaching wings has started to become so familiar that he can barely even hear it any more. It certainly doesn't get his heart pumping like it used to.

    Well, maybe that has less to do with the threat of the parademons and more to do with Tim's physical condition at the moment.

    "Come on," he mutters to himself. "You had plans. Come on. You're already late."

    It's not Tim's terrible attempt at psyching himself up that works, though. No, it's the familiar press of M'gann's mind within his own, comforting despite the momentary spike of intrusion that Tim's subconscious mind always feels at first. And then a sharp spike of adrenaline that surges through his system, making his heart pound against his ribcage and his senses sharpen. He's running practically even before he realizes it himself.

    His appearance down a nearby street comes with some commotion, the ragged, run-down citizens of Apokolips parting as a figure darts through them. At some point Tim has lost his cape, and he's switched his suit's stealth mode on, red replaced with dark grey from a miniscule current passed through the microfilaments on the outer layer, coated with color-changing pigments. Though there are parts of his suit--a set of gashes on his arm, primarily--where it has begun to revert back to red because of the compromised material. Or maybe it's blood. Though he is splattered with his fair share of parademon ichor, too.

    One of the lenses of his domino mask is cracked, but the HUD flickering before his eyes is enough to lead him to the beacon's signal. His hair is sweaty, tacked to his forehead, and he's got a cut on his lip and a bruise on his temple that looks like it extends underneath his mask, but he's alive. Worse for wear, but alive.

    "<<We need to go now!>>" is all he can get out, in-between panting breaths. Further down the street, the confused disturbance from his appearance turns into screams and chaos as the parademons on his tail round a corner.

Bruce Wayne has posed:
As Red Robin approaches, Batman reaches into his belt and releases several small shards of black metal into the air. As they rise up, they take the shape of mechanical bats that flutter off in different directions. He watches them go before turning his full attention to his former partner, dropping down a de-cel line that leads the way up to the portal atop the great statue.

"Come on!" he calls over the din, the distant chittering and screeching of parademons far more audible now, "Through the portal!"

True to form, he makes sure the others are through before he can go. The dregs of Apokoliptian society swarm at the foot of the statue, reaching up in the hope that capturing the interlopers may aid them somehow. The Parademons close in. Baying hounds forged from some sort of living metal growl and bark, bounding down the filth-strewn streets.

Just as Batman topples through the portal, he detonates the explosive. The portal closes just as the statue is destroyed in roiling fireball, shattering the stone and sending the visage of Darkseid scattering as rubble across the street. The mechanized Batsuit he wears hisses open, allowing him to spill out of it. He wears only a form-fitted t-shirt and shorts, as well as a cowl to still conceal his identity.

"Welcome back," he growls, rising to his feet, "We've got a lot to talk about."