ERRORS OF THE BUDDY SYSTEM

[Silv]

Robin's masked eyes widened when a hand wrapped around his foot and caught him off balance. The boy flipped, his hands hitting the floor, as his other leg swung up to try and free it's fellow. It worked, but Slade wasn't going down easily. The kid rolled to his feet bouncing between strikes with a smirk on his face. He had to admit: it felt kind of awesome to have one up on Slade.  But Robin knew how to fight blinded. He probably shouldn't have underestimated Slade's ability to do the same. A blow came through. It smashed into his arm causing the boy to stagger back with a hiss. That'd hurt. The hiss had given away his position, though, which had probably helped Slade hone in on Robin's location.

A hand gripped Robin's left wrist tugging the child forward. Robin stumbled, and jumped, bouncing into the air to smash a kick with both feet at Slade's middle. Problem was he didn't quite get that far. He was swung in midair, colliding with the wall before he could manage any semblance of a kangaroo kick. The Boy Wonder exhaled sharply, slightly stunned, and was pulled to his feet by his wrist before he could protest.

Without much thought his right hand tried to pry Slade's grip from his left. It ended with both his wrists trapped, and a force pressing down on his steel toed boots to keep him from kicking. Robin shied away from the masked mad man as best he could. He tugged against the grip holding his wrists above his head, and struggled to try to wriggle his feet out from under Slade's boot. It wasn't working. Cold terror flooded through the young Titan leader. He'd fought Slade before. He'd won. Sort of. So why was this any different? When Slade finally spoke, forcing Robin's masked face to look at him despite not being able to see him, this wasn't the sort of banter the Teenage Thunderbolt had been expecting. Robin struggled, trying to pull away from Slade, if only to mask his own trembling. And then Slade mentioned him.

Batman.

The boy tensed more from the mention of that name than he did at Slade being so close that he could feel the heat of the man's breath through the slits in his mask. Robin froze in his struggles, though his pulse seemed to pound a million miles an hour. His masked eyes widening as the information sunk in. Slade had gone to Gotham? Slade had fought Batman? All at once he felt confused, hurt, and betrayed. He hadn't told Bruce about Slade. That was Robin's mistake. It wasn't supposed to haunt old ghosts in Gotham. But then Robin heard the last thing he had been expecting to hear.

Batman had lost? The echo of that impossibility was the last before darkness hit.


Ooc: Pssssst. Gang~ if you guys can all try to get to the water room by your next posts that'd be awesome. Because I'm knocked out till then. Thanks <3

TAG: Gaunt, Empathy, Feathers & @feudalism

[Gaunt]

Gaunt let out a barking laugh. Despite the situation and his usual lack of humor, he had to admit that was funny. "You could say that, yeah." He wondered if robots would even understand the raunchy stuff in those books. She was a medical robot, right? She had to at least understand the mechanics of it, if not the why. But that would have to wait, apparently. They were in a dead zone right now, even her robo-wifi couldn't get a signal.

She was still trying to diagnose him. At least she'd given up on bringing him back to life now. "Yeah, I'm fine. Whatever they did to put me out, it didn't leave anything lasting." That was a little worrying in and of itself. He didn't remember any failed attempts before he blacked out, so they probably knew ways to disable him ahead of time. That meant they were prepared specifically for him, which was an unsettling thought. He was supposed to be a myth, and those that prepared for vampires usually just killed them outright. What were these people planning?

Gaunt followed her orders quietly until they crashed right into a wall. "You sure you can see in the dark?" The wall had sounded a little odd, though. Gaunt patted it. Yep, this definitely felt hollow. "Feels like steel, not too thick. Think I should break through?" He kept patting the wall, feeling for what might be a weak spot. "Or are you picking up a danger zone on the other side? Come on, doc, what do your elf eyes see?"

[Empathy]

The robot princess slapped her palms against her face.

@{Gaunt}
"That sounds truly terrifying."

The undead then dismissed her concern. The robot cycled through her irises again.

@{Gaunt}
"It seems like it. What do you think they administered to you?"

The steel wall did not seem to pose a problem to the corpse-man. Drössel made an encrypted note of that. She also upped his threat level to regular humans.

@{Gaunt}
"I can see two human skeletons on the other side. They appear to be moving."

Drossel took a step back, waiting for Gaunt to do his work. In the mean time, she troke a thinking pose: left hand stroking her metallic chin.

@{Gaunt}
"If we are unharmed, why do you think we were brought here?"

Maybe meeting the two other humans would provide answers.

@{Gaunt}
"And who is on the otherside of this wall?"

[Feathers]

Silverwing pretty sure she didn't order a slap across the face. Especially not from Ichor. Anyone beside her. Of course. The slap did snap some senses into her. Jolting back to reality and out of her emotional terror breakdown. Almost forgetting that Ichor was there with her, who saw everything. Who also now knows? Her weakness. Great. Can this day get any better? Hmm, funny she didn't ditch when she could have. She (Silverwing) would have. Yes, she hates that much.

"Don't call me princess!" She tries to reply with a very convincing tough attitude. Only to sound like a little girl who done crying. Darn it. Wiping her tears. Ignoring Ichor nagging. She's not her mom.[ She tries to recast the fearless spell onto herself...again. But its was too dark and, the dark was intimidating and scary. Did she mention scary? That she was close of freaking out again and curl into a ball. She didn't know if she would make it out alive or not. Or stop embarrassing herself in front of Ichor. It was bad enough she knew her secret identity. Now, her fear. What next? The source of her power too? 

Almost jumping out of her skin. She shutter at the touch of Ichor hands on her face. Wait, what her face? "ARGH!" She quickly took a step back. Finding herself against the wall of the maze. "What are you doing?" She panicked. Wondering. What diabolical scheme was that crazy metal chick up too? Taking an advantage of a hero down. Talk about low. "Night vision goggles?!" Finding herself taking it back. As much as she hates to admit it. She was touch and surprise that Ichor gave her the night vision goggles. Able to see a clear view of her surrounding and the maze with it. Making it a less scary place for the silver hair Titan. 

"I'm walking. I'm walking..." Grumbling at Ichor threat. Ichor didn't have to be so hard on her. She did have a temporary phobia meltdown. It's not like she have an on and off switch. That she could snap herself back to normal and I'm okay with a flip of it. "Stupid Ichor..." She continued to grumble. 

"I'm right here..." Not surprise, that Ichor overheard her.
"Yes, I know. It's hard to ig..."
"So stop crying already..."

She shutter again when she felt Ichor hand. Holding onto her hand tightly. A reassuring grip of everything-gonna-be-okay kind. 

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" It wouldn't come to a surprise if the iron maiden did. 

[Deleted]

"What on earth gave you the idea that I would enjoy being kidnapped and be forced to go through a maze in the dark?" Ichor shook her head and sighed as she let Kimber lead her down the hall. When ever they came to an intersection Ichor would tell the other girl which way to to go. "As fun as it is to mess with you, now is nether the time nor the place. Left. I am not amused."

The were getting close to the end of the maze, and thanks to Ichor's mental senses they hadn't made any wrong turns. "So the great Silverwing, also known as the renowned violinist Kimber Lee Fowl is afraid of the dark... You know that isn't that uncommon of a fear. There is no shame in being afraid. The trick is not letting it rule over you." Ichor mentally laughed, she was one to talk, sure she could hold it together around everyday things but if anyone pointed it at her flat out lost it. Yeah she was one to talk about controlling fear. "Keep going strait then take the next right."

Ichor and Silverwing stood in front a set of two glowing pads, one was blue and the other orange. "There is a large room on the other side of this wall." Ichor let go of Kimber's hand and stepped onto the orange pad while Silverwing stepped onto the blue. The wall in front of them opened up leading to a large room, with a bright light source. As they stepped inside the wall behind them closed and the red light on their bracelets blinked then turned green. Ichor looked around thoughtfully, she could feel the end of two other mazes, so perhaps there were other people here too. They, however, had no where else to go so all they could do was wait. Ichor sighed as sat down next to the door they came out of and closed hers. "Might as well take a seat princess I think we're going to be waiting here a bit."

[Elenaphant]

Completing the maze and its obstacles was nothing when he had snatched the goggles back and put them over his mask. It was clunky and very annoying, but it would suffice. The teen who should have been his seeing-eye dog was hanging limp over his shoulder. Slade's focus became narrow on finding their captor, so he didn't dwell on many thoughts regarding his unconscious burden. He was almost there.

When he came to the end of this insulting maze, he noted the two pads. He pulled off the goggles, able to see with their light, and dumped Robin on the blue. It was sufficient weight. He walked to the orange pad. That was when the door slid open to a white room with clinical brightness. He grabbed Robin's cape and dragged him across the floor into the other room.

Inside, two young females; one he recognized as a Titan, the other he did not recognize. His steely gaze fell upon them and noted their bracelets. When the door closed behind him, he let go of Robin's cape. He may not have his weapons, but he was still dangerous, as Robin provided an example of. Now he knew they were not alone. He noted that there were three doors. Four people inside. He hadn't seen anyone in the maze, which meant they must have come in by another door and in similar fashion.

There were two Titans, but he knew the other girl was not--so why was she paired with one? His gaze was heavy on her; inspecting her, trying to see what similarities she may have possessed to him--which was a laughable prospect. She seemed young, and lacking the kind of hardness in her eyes that someone of his resolve would develop. His mind was an efficient machine and it produced a satisfactory answer to his private inquiry.

If not a Titan... an enemy of one.

[Silv]

The boy hit the ground with a thud, and Robin stirred, startled by the sudden movement and brightness. He didn't have a chance to comprehend what was going on, though, as light exploded around him and he was being pulled towards it by his neck. The teen's green gloved fists went to the collar of his cape pulling at it where it bit into the flesh of his neck to keep it from strangling him. If he had been more conscious this probably would have reminded him why he hated capes so much. As it was his brain was more preoccupied with breathing, and other basic functions.

When Robin really woke up he was sprawled half on his side, and half face down on what seemed to be a tile floor. He couldn't see it, but his cape flung out like a giant wing, arching towards the mercenary that had dropped it. Everything hurt. His arm, in particular, burned where a yellowing bruise bloomed, and there was a collar of purple rimming the area where his costume met his neck. Matching ones adorned his wrists, invisible under the gloves, and the cuffs he didn't quite remember being there.

He shifted as best he could, moving slowly to test for broken bones. Nothing seemed broken, just unhappy, and it wasn't anything he hadn't lived through before. The boy heard a familiar voice that thankfully wasn't Slade, and squinted as Silverwing's face came into focus. He couldn't voice it yet, but he was very glad to see her. The Boy Wonder sat up, still looking slightly dazed, but he recovered with the speed of someone far too used to this sort of trauma.

“Silverwing,” he managed her name, but barely more than a mangled whisper, his throat not appreciating all the abuse it was being put through. He coughed, his voice gaining strength even if it still sounded rough. “You have to get out of here. Slade is--” was standing not that far away. The boy recoiled when he realized that, surging to his feet in a manner his body simply wasn't ready for. He tipped to the left, but managed to keep his balance like only one of the world's finest acrobats could, and slipped back into a fighting stance. He was persistent, at least...if slightly pathetic.

TAG: Empathy 

[Gaunt]

The auto-doc was full of questions tonight. At least, he was pretty sure it was night. His powers hadn't receded like they did during the day. "Probably magic or something psychic, can't think of anything else that could do that." He didn't mention stakes. The fewer weaknesses of his she knew, the better.

So there were others here! Humans, too. Gaunt braced himself, letting his power flow into his arms. He didn't like using it like this when he didn't know where his next meal was coming from, but maybe the humans would be hostile. That would be a good free meal. Meanwhile, the princess was still asking questions. "Bugger if I know." He gave the wall a thunderous punch, denting the metal in. He didn't want to break it entirely down, they might not be hostiles on the other side. Could even be helpful.

Gaunt drove his fist into the wall again. It was dented enough now that the edges were coming loose. The vampire dug his fingers in, bending the steel and peeling it back. It took one hell of an effort, but within a minute they had a makeshift door. "Alright, we're open. Now where the [REDACTED] are you?" he reached around behind him, trying to find Drossel. She'd backed off to let him work, but hopefully hadn't run off. It would tuback having to wander aimlessly through a dark maze.

Then he recognized some of the voices from the other side of the wall. Slade and Robin he'd heard on TV, Silverwing he'd met in person. There was one more, a girl he didn't recognize. "Holy hell, it's a party! Anyone know what's going on here?" That knocked a few names off the suspect list. Slade might try something like this, but Gaunt doubted the guy would show up in person. And that was no bot, he could hear his circulatory system going. That meant someone crazy enough to put Jump's most famous hero and most notorious villain in a room together.

[Empathy]

Drössel duly noted the undead's answer. Medic then observed as Mr Gaunt's body changed drastically in composition. The little robot's eyes switched colors a few time. She remained silent during the whole procedure, leaving the vampire on the dark as to how much information she gleaned from the procedure.

As the metal gave way to an impressive show of strength, Drössel's head perked up. Her iris shifted to X-ray red. She took a step closer before turning to Gaunt to send,
@{Mr Gaunt}
"Two more humans."

But the inhumanly strong undead had already finished piercing the steel wall. He was inviting the princess over. As Drössel's head poked out of the door, her eyes widened in shock. The robot all but jumped through the door, hands already glowing furiously as she chard both titans.

@{Leader Robin}
"You have sustained injury! Let me heal you!"

@{Titan Silverwing}
"Your emotional and physical state requires assistance! I am coming!"

The electronic core also registered the imposing presence of Slade. Pulling off information from their previous encounter -and stuff she googled since then- Drössel instantly classified him as a threat.

Drössel rushed forward, hands outstretched towards the titans in need of healing. She crossed Gaunt, then started distancing him. She almost reached the silverhaired Titan. That was, until a force pulled at her wrist, violently bringing her back. The robot's head jerked in muted surprise as even her robotic strength was insufficient to counteract the sudden movement.