I Need a Hero

[Audrey]

Most would consider their life of villainy pretty well set-up if they were invited to join the Brotherhood of Evil in the greatest smack-down against heroes the world's ever known only a month after their career began and subsequently were one of the few who managed to escape when said smack-down went horribly sour. Cheshire though... Cheshire hadn't even considered that an ice breaker. Beating Speedy without taking so much as a hit was but an appetizer to a long full course of what she had in store. To be entirely honest, she was conflicted about joining the Brotherhood of Evil, given she despised the members among her just as much as she despised those they were fighting against. Had things actually gone successfully within that group, she had actually intended to use her position to pick off the members one by one. But predictably, they failed and she was one of the first to abandon ship when the warning signs started cropping up. To say she was a unique villain was an understatement at least as far as standard morality goes. She had several rules that separated her from the scumball slime of Slade and Mumbo. 1, no civilian casualties. Hurting innocents is sloppy and unprofessional and just makes matters worse. 2, no money taking. Money is blasphemous and inevitably worthless. Her trials in Vietnam taught her that well. And 3, no leadership positions. Like money, power simply corrupts the mind and blurs the lines of justice. "Heh, if you can call it that. I don't think anyone knows what justice really is anymore," she thought as she looked down at the people moving about below. Those rules were what brought her where she's sitting this morning.

Atop the sign for the Pear Computer Store, Cheshire sat with her legs crossed simply meditating on their famous white pear symbol with a bite taken out of it. Of course, she was mostly invisible save for the face on her mask. Most people took the floating face to be some kind of modern graffiti style, but the lucky few who happened to be looking when a particular loud car horn blared, or when an awful cloud of smog went by got a glimpse of the assassin sitting there in broad daylight as she lost her focus and in turn her invisibility. In truth, she had hoped they see her. That was actually rather the point of this entire stunt. Though only one Titan had ever seen her face to face, Speedy's description of her and importantly her skill made her a rather infamous figure among the Titans and Jump City. High alert she recalled it was called? Something along the lines of 'Absolutely make sure this crazy girl isn't anywhere because she's super dangerous.' The point of matter, is any sighting of her would instantly warrant a visit from one of the Titans, which is exactly what she was hoping for.

One of them would show up, challenge her for what she did to Speedy, and they do things nice and clean on the rooftop where no one uninvolved gets hurt. It's not like they were going to just dive at her, she wasn't attacking anyone and really doing anything wrong, just sitting about enjoying the breeze. What'd be icing on the cake is if Speedy showed up for rematch with her. That would be absolutely rich. Probably say something about he's in his home element now unlike their last fight. Of course, what he wouldn't be realizing is everywhere is her home element. She doesn't need something as trivial as a home element to help her succeed. She is but pure raw skill.

[Kenni]

Due to the police reports of a particular masked assassin’s brief sighting at the Pear outlet, a masked Harper crouched atop a neighbouring apartment complex rooftop, taking aim at a peacefully patient set of floating eyes and smile, before…
…changing his mind.

Before gingerly (pfftch~) approaching the villainess. Or, her visage, at least.

Cheshire had made such short work of him before his initial capture that it was embarrassing, so even though he knew a hand-to-hand redux with her like before was a bad idea, this time, he’d try to work his way forward one step at a time.

“Breakfast-fruit shopping, are we, Giggles?” Speedy greeted from behind, with a wry disarming smile. His bow likewise was slung across his chest, not in-hand, to show he came in peace.

He knew normal arrows didn’t work on this one. At least she’d dodged his explosives when they’d met, but his aim wasn’t to blow her to smithereens so much as to interrogate her for future Brotherhood plotting. If she was just here to play games—with the law, with the Titans, heaven forbid with this city, then it was up to him to stop her.

Or at least slow her down.

“Find errmat on your list?”
What was she doing here?

For now, he would just try and talk to her. Did heroes and villains really have to throwdown as soon as they came across each other? He didn’t have to attack if she wasn’t causing trouble, right? It wasn’t as though she were breaking any laws taking in the city air, and if she stuck to shooting the breeze with him instead of just-plan shooting him, this meeting could prove survivable informative.

[Audrey]

As soon as he was even a blip in her vision, Cheshire noticed Speedy and felt great. Ooh boy, this plan was working out in the best possible way. She remained still, letting him approach her sitting place and even let down her invisibility to listen to him speak. Admittedly, she didn't expect him to make small talk with her. Score a point for Speedy's conscious. He didn't even arm himself approaching her. She could completely take a cheap potshot at him with no worry at all about a quick retaliation. He was lucky she had the honor not to take such a cheap shot. She remembered an American program she had watched back down in the sewer. 'If I'm going to kill you, I'm going to be looking at you and you'll have a weapon ready.' Americans may be asininely braindead for the most part, but they were certainly eloquent with their words. More than she could say for the loonies in Vietnam. It almost frustrated her how difficult it was to defend her home country in an argument. Though, Americans could easily be blamed for that as well.

"Giggles. That's one I've never heard before. Let's not let it become a habit, I think it may be copyrighted by some loon in Gotham," she answered to the... less than affectionate nickname he'd given her. Was that the best he could do? Really? Giggles? She didn't even laugh practically ever, and anyone who thought smiling was equivalent of giggling can hit themselves with a dictionary. SMILES would've been better than Giggles. Sheesh. "By errmat, I assume you mean something along the lines of everything. You'll have to forgive me, English is not my first language. Though, by the sounds of it, it doesn't seem to be yours either. Or am I assuming too much? Perhaps you simply just struggled in English class. I hear education's awful in this country, you can hardly be blamed," she responded, the disdain of her words practically oozing. Everything about America was just disappointment. After reading so much about freedom and making your way by pure effort, she found that most Americans simply wasted away the privilege by remaining stupid, and sheep-like. The vapidness was astounding amongst these people. They're like fat stupid cavemen waving around their big club at the world.

She found it almost humorous she was chatting with Speedy like he was an old friend rather than the person she had beaten senseless and sent to his demise not a couple months ago. No doubt he was going to try and get some information out of her such as the status of the Brotherhood of Evil, and no doubt when she informed him of her pre-mature departure from their ranks he wasn't going to believe a word of it, but hey, his loss really. He'd simply just be wasting his own precious time pursuing the dead cause... and prolonging the time until she beat him senseless once more and REALLY sent him to his demise this time instead of letting that idiot Council take care of it.

[Kenni]

This archer loved to talk. As very few lovers of talk could, Speedy was able to poke fun at others with this love of talking, as his highest form of ‘verbal-abuse’, but he could also take verbal-abuse(especially since he’d just apparently abused his conversation-partner’s already dingy overview of the English language with his slang).

“A villain…worried about the legal ramifications of annoying a madman..! I knew I pegged you for a Giggles.” Speedy was clearly enjoying himself. It was like they were trading jokes! It was almost relaxing; he felt the danger in this and flexed his fingers, ever-ready to reach for an arrow to initiate Plan B should she grow humourless due to his big mouth out of nowhere, unprovoked. He had never heard the villainess speak, but with the ease she had taken him down before, the masked boy imagined that should he ever have a conversation with her, and should she happen to so much as ‘smile’ as often as her disguise might imply, laughing at her past victims opponents’ expense didn’t sound too far off the mark.

“You don’t like it~. It’s only a matter of time then before I come up with somat better. Please, the apology is all mine.” Speedy said cheekily, with flourish to match.
It didn’t matter if she saw or not (she hadn’t turned to face him but he had a hunch she had some of that ‘eyes in the back of one’s head’ jive goin’ on); he lived for the chance to be silly, and what better time than a dangerous one to flaunt that reckless abandon of sense. Anything to draw out the time, make certain he phrased his questions correctly.

Naturally, this meeting was not only a matter of intel-gathering, but also a matter of pride.

While it was not a matter of his emotional pride at stake, but his ability to defend himself that he was taking seriously at the moment, Speedy gave himself a gold star for taking this gamble and staying alive.

Thus far.

His next moves had all the power to change this.

“Hey, you may be onna somat there. I grew up bilingually on the preserves, English next to Navajo Apachean. Our teachers were great; just call me lazy, maybe, but ya can’t blame the teacher if the student doesn’t feel like learning.” he seemingly confided, eyes never leaving her still frame.
The East Titan even moved to sit next to her…if ‘next’ worked as ‘8 feet away’, legs swung over the side of the guard-railing that was not attached to the sloping, continuous edge of the pear on which the assassin and her expert balance were occupying.

With his side of the past-sharing concluded for now, he moved tried to steer the conversation towards the target, heart going wild with his discomfort at being this close to his would-be killer, but outwardly as relaxed as though they were having a picnic.

“Your turn to tell me somat about yourself. Like what the Brotherhood of Evil’s assigned you to do in Jump. Whaddaya say? Does the teacher feel like teaching..?”

An abrupt transition, yes, but a silent nod to her ‘teaching’ skills of having thoroughly trounced him in their short-lived spar, as well.

[Audrey]

"I prefer the term anti-hero. As in I'm against heroes. And anti-villain for that matter," she responded to the implication of her being a villain. Sure, she did swing more "evil" than "good" in the opinions of most caped crusaders, but she was no Joker or Slade. This wasn't a game for power or fame or money. She just simply wanted to see things get fixed from the twisted immoral system they were in now, and if it meant becoming one of the people she hated so much, she'd live with it. She smiled a bit at Speedy's musing about teachers. Not that he could see it under the mask, but Jade had to admit it was somewhat humorous and since her emotions were hidden, she didn't see the harm in a little guilty pleasure. Then of course though, he brought up the Brotherhood. Chalk up a point for Jade on the 'Totally saw that coming' board. Now the question was whether he'd believe what he was about to be told. Jade had money on no, but there wasn't exactly much else to do. Can't fault a girl for telling the truth. "I haven't been affiliated with the Brotherhood in months. After humiliating you and several other Titans, I had... creative differences spring up between myself and The Brain, and decided to leave. It was rather convenient really as just after I left, you and the Titans turned things around and mopped the floor with them. I'm sure you noticed I wasn't present at that rather explosive fight, I know you missed me ever so dearly. As for why I'm in Jump, wouldn't you know it? I live here. Just shooting the breeze for now. Thinking about my next big fight. I don't recall seeing a no loitering sign anywhere nearby, so I think I'm perfectly alright sitting here."

She wasn't exactly sure whether she wanted him to believe her story or not. If he didn't, no doubt there'd be a chance for some antagonism that could come to blows, and of course, inevitably beating him senseless again. But another part of her wanted him to believe her and keep talking. She didn't exactly GET much of an opportunity to calmly speak to people much. Her speech was usually idle banter during a battle. She still wanted to beat the tar out of him, but it'd be nice to milk him for a nice conversation first. You never get that anymore between two rivals... Anymore? Come to think, don't think that'd ever been the norm except for maybe "rivals" in the Victorian era who were simply two drunk Brits who wanted to have a toss up at the end of every evening to prove their manhood, perhaps culminating in a revolver duel a year down the road.

[Kenni]

OoC; I’mSorryI’veDraggedThissss x’x She can either wanna engage in fightsferfun on his escape trial or he can drop the name o’the restaurant if you still liked the idea’ve her dropping in on Roy’n Lang ladr. x) ||

Was she telling the truth..?

“Creative differences..?”

He rubbed his neck, trying to get a crick out that had never really left, although he was long since a frozen Speedy-sculpture in The Brain’s collection anymore.

Well, whether she could be trusted in any capacity or not, while it could mean the difference between him still breathing in half an hour or not, she hadn’t been too hostile yet. As far as Robin and the Co. of Titans that had been there at that gamechanging smackdown were concerned, they’d broken up the Brotherhood of Evil for a while to come.

It wasn’t even clear if Brain was still alive, much less plotting his revenge.

There was something mesmerizing about her at-ease, comfortable vocal register that made the archer more inclined to take her words for granted. He wouldn’t push for more information for now and instead made small-talk, trying to work in an exit strategy.

The Brain and his merry band of ne’erdowells weren’t nearly as big a threat to the Titans anymore as could be the assassin sitting next to him, so he’d do well to regulate tempers and keep the air easy.

“You didn’t like me? I thought I made a pretty handsome piece of work..you must be more a fan of dynamic art.” Speedy smiled coolly, flexing for such and such dynamic effect.

He almost lost it after that; thinking about the dramatic pose he’d been stuck in, was, all things considered (i.e. death) pretty hilarious.

Indignance at thought of his precious red follicles freezing off suddenly warped his face into a decidedly more Robinesque scowl than he’d thought himself capable of.

“Honestly, though. Does that lame-Brain have any idea what freezerburn death would do to my hair?” he huffed, getting to his feet and dusting off his tights, hitching the bow off his shoulder and readying a Grappling Arrow.

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a lunchdate at a Thai joint later today, and my patrol rounds won’t log themselves. You stay outta trouble, young lady, or I’ll be back.”
Speedy actually had the audacity to turn his back to her, the hairs on his neck raised with every step, a lazy hand raised in farewell without once looking back.