Highschool was never kind to me [Vi]

[Tim Drake]

A shadowy figure slipped down a hallway, silent as a whisper, it then vanished around a corner, and before long, it reappeared at a rather large and round vault like door, blank, white, soulless eyes glared at the small keypad that locked the door, a gloved hand hovering over it as a small readout flashed away, projected in 3D before a pair of cool blue eyes, a set of codes being listed off as candidates until three sets of numbers at last flashed green, and then moved from the list to the other side of the gloved hand, as it rested lightly on the pad and then punched in the top most number into the pad, which chirped softly...


Moving with the learned stealth that only a few truly possessed , Robin glided on silent titanium toed boots through a lab, his eyes fixed on a computer bank, and the monitor that sat there, blank and waiting for his expert hacking skills to awaken it, and draw the needed information before he slipped off into the night, the powers that be, shrouded in mystery, behind the Pax-Que conglomerate board of directors their main marketing venues being the trading and exchange of goods and funds, their smaller and much lesser known pursuits was a strange combination of ancient artifacts and bio engineering.

Which was why Robin was here tonight, since the Pax-Que conglomerate had flatly refused a direct request for information on their dealings with Macklin Manufacturing, which where shrouded in secrecy.

After finding what he needed, Robin returned the computer back to its prior state, and then stole back to the hallway, and waited for a few moments to ensure that the round vault like door shut and was locked up again, no sense in getting sloppy or raising suspicion now was there?


Moving down the corridor quickly Robin paused when he heard a sound, his back pressing into the wall as he waited, then heard it again; soft muttering.

Slipping around the corner, and sticking to the shadows, he saw an old portly doctor type rub his balding head and step out of a room, the door remaining open as he stepped out and waddled down the hall toward the bathrooms it seemed, muttering about "Extracting the proper protein markers." "Finding the chromosome variations." and "Genetic coding for adrenal production."

This of course peeked his interest and as he looked back, and eerie green glow that seemed familiar pulsed softly in the room, drawing his gaze deeper.
Moving just as quiet as ever, Robin moved into the room and looked about; it was much like the room he had just come from on this little raid, but there was a large glass tube with bubbling green liquid in it, and a shape obscured from direct view, but Robin was fairly certain he knew who this was, as he had dealt with this person many times before, and last time...

Last time had been in Paris France, and it had been, he hoped would be the last, Plasmus and many other Titan adversary's had been frozen, put into a cryogenic sleep for the rest of time hopefully, and yet, here was what appeared to be Plasmus in a Bio stasis chamber, right before his eyes and...

The bubbles cleared and Robin was confronted with the sight of a slim, pretty dark haired girl in a two piece Bio conducing suit, the pale blue a sickly shade of yellow almost in the bright green soup that the girl hung in, her eyes closed and a small mask resting over her mouth and nose, tiny bubbles flowing out, in time with the slight motion of her chest as she breathed in a deep and likely drug induced state of REM sleep, her small long fingered hands at her sides as a humming subsided, the last cycling of the device ending.

He looked around for information and then found everything he needed to know on a data pad, it had some vital information; gender (duh?) age, which was interestingly enough, only approximated, and then other things like height, weight, shoe size (why that was so important he had no clue) and then, her powers...

She was a Pyro, kinda like that one guy Beast Boy had told him about, or Hotspot even, but more than that... She was just a test subject, her file said it and her test platform said it; "Test subject # 025-20-B"

Robin moved like a thought and was hidden in a corner when the doctor came back, looked at his work,, and yawned, then shut everything up and powered down every item but the tube and its cradle, walked to the door, and had it close behind him, a few moments later, the lights shut off and the door locked with a low, and final sounding "THUD" and then, it was almost silent.



Exactly five minuets after the door had locked, a red bird shaped object smashed the glass of the tube as a trio of round yellow and black disks crashed into the door with a small and muffled explosion...

[Violet Schultz]

The last thing she remembered, she had gone to sleep in an abandoned apartment in Topeka, Kansas. She'd not woken since, and all of the memories since were blurred, as if she had been half asleep at the time. A lot of figures in all white... a bald man in a black suit... she'd tried to move and was met with an electric shock which threw everything into a blur...

The next thing she knew, she was waking up for the first time in... who knew how long? She could feel the drug in her system, muddling her thoughts, making her muscles sore and sluggish. Weirder still, she was in some disgusting green slime. As the slime poured out of the glass chamber, she was unceremoniously lowered to the ground. Although she tried to support her weight as her feet touched the bottom of the chamber, her legs shook and collapsed. What on earth was going on?? Ripping the mask from her face with shaking hands, she looked around, gasping for breath.

She was in some sort of lab, and from the soreness of her limbs, she gathered that she had been there for a while, else her muscles wouldn't be so sore from lack of use. She looked at the glass chamber around her, which lay in pieces around the floor. There was another person in the room... her eyes were still kinda blurry from the sedative in her system. He didn't look like a scientist...

"Where am I?" she rasped. "Who are you?"

Her dark blue eyes tried to meet his face, but it was like grasping at something wet. She couldn't keep her eyes there. She was having a bit of trouble staying concious. She was barely aware of the green ooze dripping down her skin and long black hair.

[Tim Drake]

Robin knelt down and rested his gloved hand lightly on the girls small rounded shoulder and spoke softly in a still maturing voice that had a strong hint of steel in it; "Take it easy, and just breathe... This is some kind of lab hidden in an old manufacturing plant..."

He looked about for any kind of security sensors like a camera or something, but like the bulk of the building, there was none, however, a small computer attached to the tube's cradle was now on and blinking brightly, and soon a soft beeping alarm sounded from it.

Another Bird-a-rang fixed that in a shower of sparks and plastic bits before Robin stood up and pulled out his collapsible bo staff, and with a snap of the wrist and a click, it was out and wedged into the wreckage that had been the door only minuets ago.

"Here, we may not have much time." he said as he reached his glove down and took her hand into his and lifted her up some, then with a practiced maneuver he flipped her onto his back in a fireman's carry; "Sorry, but something tells me that we won't have time for you to get your feet just yet." he said as he moved forward and then stomped down on his staff, moving the largest bit of ruined door out of the way, so he could carry her out and into the hallway where he dashed away from the lab at a good clip and rounded a corner to find an open hall, that suddenly filled up with a foursome of black clad guards...

"Hang on." Robin said as he ducked and then pivoted shifting his legs under him and then rotating forward, using the girl's body and weight to shift his movements into a high-speed somersault that drove an armored boot into the middle of one man and carried them past the other three who where shocked at the maneuver, which gave Robin the momentum to race out of the hallway and into the vast expanse of an abandoned assembly line, and to the far wall where he set the girl down carefully and then looked at her; "Think you can run now?" he asked, not winded yet, but closer to it than he would have liked to have been, he stress and sudden exertion being just enough to tap some of his impressive energies...

[Violet Schultz]

Violet's eyes widened at his words and she looked down at the ground, still breathing a bit harder than she would've liked. A lab? They must have found her when she was asleep and kept her unconcious to prevent her escape. In truth, it was the only truly effective way to keep her contained, short of killing her.

"Merde," she muttered.

Her sore muscles couldn't offer much resistance as he lifted her over his shoulder and took off running, but she could feel the flame in her mind rising back to the surface the longer she was concious, and as he set her down, she closed her eyes and put a hand on the ground to steady herself. Her dark eyes gleamed under the lids as she sent a wave of flame through her system. The tissues of any normal person would be damaged severely from heat of that magnitude traveling through them, but Violet was built a bit differently than most. The flame burned away the sedative, like a fog meeting the morning sun. It also brought blood back into her inactive limbs.

For anyone watching, it must have been a strange sight, to see a neon purple flame pattern on her skin appear and disappear in a wave which washed from her head to her feet. A tiny amount of flame surrounded her in a circle across the floor as she purged her system of chemicals, and the air around her became noticably hotter during the process which lasted all of ten seconds. Her eyes were still gleaming lavender as she opened them and replied.

"I'm ready," she said, her face grim.

Her head was feeling clear at last, and the purge would give her muscles a little strength, even if not quite her normal amount. No acrobatics today; it would have to be strictly pyrokinetics. She stood slowly and a bit shakily, but the conviction in her eyes showed that she wouldn't let the weakness of her body prevent her from doing as she needed. Her eyes blazed brighter as she stood, showing her readiness to use her abilities.

[Tim Drake]

Robin watched with mild awe as the girl put on a kind of show with her powers; which based on what he had read on that data pad was Pyrokinesis, still, with the Pyro's he had met and seen in action, he'd never seen something quite like that, but as soon as she was up and had told him that she was ready, Robin didn't hesitate; instantly he pointed to the far end of the building, at the front door and then gave her a gentle shove; "Then run, and don't look back until you're clear of the fence!"

He of course meant the chain link fence that surrounded the building, and was in a poor state of repair and thus easy to scale, which was fine with him as he turned and palmed a few shock disks for the trio of guards that had at last followed them out, two with long range kick tasers, large and ugly weapons that fired anywhere from two to six small bullet sized capacitors at once, like a shotgun almost, the ends of the small devices sharp and linked with thin yet strong wire that allowed any two capacitors to complete a circuit should even two of them make contact with a person, any others that hit would only add their small but powerful charge to the agony that would follow being hit.

Robin's shock disks worked on the same basic principles but where self contained, they only required contact with an object after being released from his gloved grip to discharge their electrical energy, each copper coated disk being a self contained circuit that would only add a conductive surface (such as a steel rod or human flesh) to itself, thus allowing several hundred volts of Direct Current to flow until the small capacitor each disk held was spent, then it became a nifty, possible paper weight with a big golden "R" on each side...

All of this was proved out as true as the guards fell, twitching and moaning in discomfort and frustration as they lost direct control over their muscles, a hot tingle washing over their bodies before they drifted off into a fitful daze.

Robin had never broken stride, his dash, turn, toss, and then vault over a small and lowered crane showed his mastery of free running or "Parkour" as it was more widely known (it had its most popular origins in France, but was also linked to a handful of Asian fighting styles as a means of purist or escape) as he moved like oil being poured through a pile of ruble, his body twisting and moving, his pace quick but steady as he moved for the now wide open front door...

[Violet Schultz]

As well-trained in parkour as she was, Violet just wasn't in the physical shape to use acrobatics at that moment. Instead, she took of running toward the fence, a ball of flame surrounding her body like an asteroid entering the atmosphere. The flame was too intense for any normal person to withstand, and she had to scale it back a little around her person to prevent her meager clothing from bursting into flame. Still, when she met the fence, she didn't break stride. The metal melted instantaneously as it met the field, dripping down to rest on the ground as molten metal. Disappating the flames as soon as she cleared the fence, she glanced back to see if her companion was still following.

She watched with a small smile as he vaulted over the fence, using the style of anti-martial arts that she preferred. Parkour. It was subtly different from free-running, but the practiced eye could see the differences. Parkour emphasized smooth transitions and efficiency. Free running was a tad sloppier, but it emphasized freedom of movement and expression. It was more of an artform than a form of martial arts. Not that parkour was a martial art. It was considered the flipside of the "fight or flight" survival mechanism; an alternative to martial arts.

Seeing him clear the fence, she looked around, not knowing what city they were in. It was unfortunate that the outskirts of most cities looked identical. She could see by the landmarks that it wasn't any city that she'd been in before. Wait, was that a giant T-shaped tower? Holy... How on earth did she get to Jump City? Just how long had she been out? Not important. Gotta run. She looked to the kid (presumably Robin of the Teen Titans) for direction. She didn't know her way around this city and she didn't want to run into any dead-ends.

"Where do we go?" she asked, running up to him.

[Tim Drake]

Dashing out of the door, Robin ran hard and then with little effort, stepped off an over turned crate and vaulted the fence, landed, rolled and then hopped up, keeping his momentum ran to the girl and shot a glance at her exiting tactics, a grin nod indicating his assumptions that this girl was very powerful.

While not dressed in his well known red, green black and gold outfit, or his newer red and black suit (which was currently being repaired, modified and cleaned back in Gotham by Alfred) Robin's dark red tunic suit with the dark green gloves and boots still marked him as THE boy wonder, never mind that the mask was easy to recognize when paired with his mop of spiked black hair and the slightly down turned frowning glare of his lips.


"IF you think you can keep up, then follow me, and try to keep the property damage to a minimum." he said while slowing down only just, then turning along a main path of sorts that led to the edge of the sprawling complex, the remains or "ruins" of the old burned out or exploded buildings still marking where large structures once stood and churned out goods en mass...


Once he had dashed past the old guard shack at the front gate, he then turned down a long low hill that held a road, which led right into the middle of a suburb, and within that suburb, was a safe house, that if the girl could follow him too, Robin would allow the use of to her, until he could find out enough about her to find out if that gut reaction to free her was right or not.



There was NO way he was taking her back to the tower, not yet at least, he was determined not to let history repeat, the Titans could not afford another "Terra incident" not now, not ever.
Trust was going to be hard earned, and NEVER lightly given...

[Violet Schultz]

Exhausted and ragged from pain and confusion as she was, Violet couldn't help but grin at Robin's remark. If she had the breath, she might've replied. Willing herself forward, she was propelled along the path by equal parts willpower and stubbornness. As soon as they got somewhere relatively safe, she would have to get some serious sleep to recuperate. Relatively being the key word. There was no where that was truly safe. She was relearning that lesson all of the time. She had thought that the apartment in Topeka was safe. Apparently, it hadn't been.

Her smile faded as the entered an area that looked eerily familiar. The burnt out buildings in the middle of a city, with no real reason that they should be that way... It reminded her of her home in France. The explosion had totally demolished her home, and left the surrounding landscape scarred for years to come. She tried not to think of it as they passed by.

Entering a suburb, Robin led her to a place that could only be a safehose. It was almost as nice as her home had once been, and it was far nicer than any place she'd stayed since. She couldn't imagine how the Titans could afford such a place. Exactly how much did Jump City pay them to keep the city safe? Or was it just a loaner? If the latter, that meant that someone else had access to it, and her paranoia kicked up a notch.

[Tim Drake]

Robin ducked into the service alley behind the almost endless row of houses, the one and a half lane concrete path was lined by plastic cans (marked clearly "Trash" or "Recycle") and high wooden or chain linked fences a few dogs randomly barking as he trotted to the back of the safe house, a nice plain and boring two story red brick that belonged to the State, and was lent out to the Teen Titans, and the CBI (California Board of Investigation) as needed, and right now, Robin knew for a fact that it was empty of people right now, the "Family" that normally stayed here was on an "extended road trip" on the east coast...


Pausing and checking the alley, he saw the girl run up and pause next to him, looking at the house, and if she had stayed right with him, then she had seen it from the front as well.

Thankful for the half moon and a broken street light, Robin gave an approving nod to to the girl before he walked to the gate and then tugged on it; it was unlocked, as it should be, so he swung it open and stepped in, then reached out and guided her in with a gesture, and shut the wooden gate behind her with a soft "click" and slight rattle of wood, the back yard wasn't all that large, intended for a small to medium sized dog or a few cats maybe, the grass was in need of a trim, and dust covered the few wooden patio chairs on the brick lined concrete slab, at the bottom of the few stairs that led to the back porch and the door.

Moving slowly, Robin checked for nosy neighbors, looking at windows hidden in the trees, before he reached under a low window sill near the door and pulled a small brass key out, and slid it silently into the lock, and turned it half way before he paused and looked over his un-caped shoulder at the girl; "I'm Robin by the way, and you are?" he asked.

It was a legit question, and it was rather over due at this point.

[Violet Schultz]

Violet stopped just behind him and laced her fingers behind her head as she tried to catch her breath. She made a mental note of the location of the key as he asked the question and introduced himself.

"Well, if we're just using codenames, I'm Darkbrand," she replied, smiling lightly. "But you can just call me Violet."

Running her fingers through her wet black hair, she wrinkled her nose. The flames had dried the goo, leaving just the sticky residue in her hair. She would need a shower. Hopefully, she could get through it without falling over. Her muscles were quivering with exhaustion. Still, she despite feeling tired, confused, and paranoid, she felt a wave of gratefulness toward Robin; a guy she'd never met in her life who had just saved her from involuntary experimentation in a godforsaken lab.

"I don't know why you did it, but thanks," she said, looking at him with solemnity.

[Tim Drake]

Robin nodded as he clicked the lock open and gave the door a slight shove, the hinges creaking softly as the door swung open, and he stepped in, his hand catching the crook of her arm and gently tugging her inside, the door shutting with a soft slam behind them.

"Darkbrand is fine, I'm going to guess that your pretty much exhausted, so I'll just skip the pleasantries for now and give you the rundown; this is a safe-house run by the state of California, and leased by the Teen Titans through the Justice League. everything works and the house is well stocked, and is rented out from time to time to people in need, but it's now where you will be staying for the next few days."

he looked at her for a few moments then turned on his heel and reached out, flicking a light switch up, filling the long white and blue kitchen and dining room up with a soft blue tinted light, a few fixtures in key places shining down on them as he walked past the table and leaned on the far wall, his arms crossing as he looked down at the floor between them and considered both her and her last comment...

"It was the right thing to do, no one should be treated like a lab rat or some kind of elemental resource..." he looked up and locked the gaze of his soulless black and white domino mask on her dark blue eyes; "They didn't even have your name listed, to them, you where just "Test subject number 025-20-B" not a person, they didn't give you the simple human dignity of a name. No one should suffer that."

His face was perfectly stoic, but his voice betrayed his outrage at such a basic travesty, but still, his training held up as he looked back to the floor, giving her some form of dignity, seeing as she was in little more than female athletic under-armor, and on that note; "There are plenty of clothes upstairs in the bedrooms, I'm pretty sure you can find what you need, and if not,I can have some brought over."

How he was going to do that, he wasn't too sure, since most of the team was scattered about recruiting new members.

[Violet Schultz]

Violet nodded, looking around. She would have to inspect the place as soon as she could, but she knew that for tonight, she would have to simply trust that it was secure. She hated feeling so vulnerable and weak, having to depend on someone she had only just met for her own survival, but she knew that she didn't have the energy to conduct the search that she wanted. She was running on empty. It was likely that she hadn't eaten any real food for a long time, but rather had been given her sustanance via IV. It would have to wait.

"Lucky for me, I recover pretty quickly," she said. "I'll be out of your hair as soon as can be."

She wasn't going to assume that she would be offered anything permanent, and even if she was, she wasn't sure that staying in the same city as the laboratory would be wise. They'd found her once, and that had been when she was halfway across the country. Who was to say that they wouldn't come looking again? She didn't know much about them, but she was damn sure that she didn't want to be caught by them again. Robin was right, they didn't regard their subjects as human. They were just rats in a maze, as far as the scientists were concerned.

Smiling halfheartedly at him, she headed upstairs to shower and sleep. She found several large bedrooms, but she chose the one with the fewest windows; the one closest to the stairs. If an emergency arose, she could easily escape. Going to the closet, she could simple clothing, just a pair of jeans about her size and a gray t-shirt that was far too big. Folding them over her arm, she headed to the bathroom and took a shower, trying to relax as the dried goo was rinsed from her hair and body. She sighed at the warmth; it felt so good on her sore muscles. Slipping out of the shower, she dressed in the huge shirt and dropped the laboratory clothing in the empty trash bin. Resisting the urge to burn them, she headed for the bedroom. She was asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

[Tim Drake]

Robin nodded but remained silent as she left, his eyes following her up the stairs until she was out of site, then he went into the kitchen and checked everything out; other than some condiments and assorted refrigerated items, it was fairly bare, and the freezers weren't all that much better, other than some frozen pizzas and some TV dinners, all they seemed to have plenty of was ice and frozen juice concentrate...


It was a good thing that there was a magnet on the fridge for a local supermarket that made home deliveries, the same supermarket that delivered to the drop off for the Tower, so he could make a call and use the special code, for the safe house, so that Violet (and maybe himself) could have food for the next few days.


He spent the next few hours checking and double checking the house and its security system, his Com unit working as a mini computer, allowing him to link to the Titans mainframe and set the system to an extended standby and lock down before he took a nap on one of the downstairs couches...

[Violet Schultz]

The next morning...

Violet woke up slowly that morning, something that she didn't usually do. She had been trained by various sensei that it was always safer to wake up sooner than later. Generally, she followed that advice. However, she'd had a bit of a rough day yesterday. Her muscles weren't sore anymore, and her powers were restored, but she was mentally weary. It had been a long time since she'd slept dreamlessly, and it was refreshing. But however fast her healing factor was, her mind still needed the time to catch up. Sliding out from under the covers, she dressed in a simple outfit consisting of a black t-shirt and a pair of dark blue jeans.

Walking down the stairs quietly, she pulled the orange juice out of the refridgerator, pouring herself a glass which she found in the cupboards. Sitting at the table, she closed her eyes to focus. It was time for that house inspection. A dark purple flame appeared at her feet; so dark, in fact, that it was almost black. It was a heatless flame, and it could help her examine the house without having to get up at all. Taking a sip from the orange juice, she flicked her index finger toward it and it started across the floor, spreading until it engulfed the floor. Flames of her own creation didn't create smoke, and the heat was about that of room temperature. The fire alarms wouldn't go off. As it the flames wandered the house, she got a mental picture of the layout of the place.

She yawned after a few minutes of searching and flicked her finger again to extinguish all of the fires. She was relieved to find that the house was secure.

[Tim Drake]

Robin walked out of the downstairs bathroom, his gloves in one hand as he ran the fingers of his free hand through his slightly moppy black hair then gave a shake of his head as he walked into the kitchen and looked at Violet, his mask still on, the aura of the boy wonder still projected out like a shield of justice or something poetic like that...


Walking over and pulling out the chair that was directly across from her, Robin sat down and leaned back onto the back two legs, his ungloved hands resting on his knees, the dark green gloves sitting on the table top next to him as he gazed at her.

"So how'd you come to Jump? You're not from anywhere on the west coast based on your accent and I'd bet you're not even from North America, despite how good your English is."

He looked at her, still stone faced, but his body language was non-threatening and relaxed as he tried to size her up again, reevaluate his choice to lead her here and help her, since he was wary by nature, and after the stern lecture Nightwing had given him on trust and being careful, he wasn't going to allow just anyone access to the Teen Titans, no matter what that may entail...