The Limits of Karma | Will or Tim

[Violet Schultz]

"That's exactly what I was wondering," Violet said, watching them leave as she caught her breath. "Will, what's going on? Who were those people you left with, and why am I fighting cops again?"

Her tone was quizzical. All she really knew was that Will had been in trouble, and had called for assistance. When she'd gotten there, she'd figured out that they were government enforcers, though more skilled than the average cop. The fighting styles that they used were modified forms of the kind that most American military officers learned in their training. She knew the style, but she rarely used it, given that it was a style designed to be lethal. Of course, the helicopter was hardly a subtle sign that they were government. In-city airspace was regulated by the government.

Not that it really mattered who they were. If they were attacking Will, they were fair game as far as she was concerned. Still, the legal ramifications were worrisome. They really didn't want or need yet another powerful enemy, and Violet knew that she was straddling the line between being a Titan and being arrested, as she always had been, due to her past.

She gave herself a quick once-over, checking to make sure that they hadn't somehow planted something to track them before they withdrew. She didn't know where Will had taken the injured man, but she got the feeling that it was a place that the government shouldn't become aware of. Aside from a few minor injuries, there was nothing amiss.

"Are you okay?" she asked, turning her dark eyes back onto Will.

[William Talbot]

Blaze scowled slightly then shook his head as he moved closer to her, the natural gravitation towards her was something that had developed over the last month or so, but had yet to be any form of issue between them.

"They where Fed's; the local cops held the premier, I over heard the Sergent tell his guys to stay out of the fight, when the apparent Federal agents moved in, their boss was yelling over the radio at the Q.R.T. Lieutenant to help them, and he said he wouldn't fight Titans..."

Looking off in the direction the helicopters had left in, Will squinted slightly and wrinkled his nose as he went on; "The guy was named John, he was minding his own business when something happened, and then from nowhere all these supers and guys in black urban ninja outfits with guns show up... Seems you Aria, Kevin and the others we've helped are not the only victims, however... I have a hunch that we might be dealing with two separate heads of a much bigger monster that's VERY well hidden... Based on both yours and Robin's reports, this is not the same group that was holding all of those kids in Gotham or in New York, and they sure weren't the same as the people that where holding you here..."


Will's voice trailed off as he thought, the wheels turning and his jaw wiggling slightly as he let that train of thought play out in his head.

After another moment or so, he turned and waved at Violet to follow; "C'mon, we need to talk to John, he can fill in the gaps for us, and I feel like there's a lot of them..."

[Violet Schultz]

"I really don't like where this is going," Violet said quietly, looking around at the trashed rooftop. "Something big is coming, and at this point, it doesn't look promising."

She picked a single dart off of the ground and examined the liquid inside its glass heart.

"Let's get back to John, and then to the Tower," she said. "We need to get this analyzed."

Meanwhile

"Doc?" a groggy John asked, his throat dry and his head aching.

"I'm over here, John," Kavanagh replied from across the room, shaking his hands over the sink.

John sat up slowly and rested his hand over where the wound had been, rubbing it with his fingertips.

"They found me again, Doc," he grumbled, anger in his rough voice. "I can't believe they found me again."

"They're certainly a tenacious bunch," Kavanagh agreed, coming over to sit by his bed. "And now they're hiring outside talent, I see."

"Are you sure?" John asked, raising an eyebrow. "I've never seen the guy before, but that doesn't mean that he didn't come from Nevada like the rest of us."

"No, Black Samedi is too powerful to be doing this for any reason other than his own free will."

"Who the hell is he?"

"He's a very old magic-user. Homo magi. One of the most powerful I've ever encountered. He's nearly a thousand years old."

"...How do you know all this, Doc? I mean, I know you're old, but sometimes you talk as if you're about that old."

Kavanagh chuckled softly.

"Actually, I'd love to know the answer to that question as well," Violet said, coming into the room. "Just who are you?"

John's jaw tightened in alarm until he saw that she was with the Titan from earlier. Still, his gaze was wary as he watched the unknown woman with the hard eyes. She didn't seem to be in the best of moods.

The doctor swiveled in his chair to face them both, a friendly smile on his face.

"I'm just a meta, like yourself and John here," he said nodding his head toward the large man on the bed. "You can call me Doctor Quinn Kavanagh."

"We can call you that? So, is that not your real name?"

The doctor smiled an ironic smile.

"I've had thousands of names over the years," he said. "At birth, my name was Guaire Aodh, but no one's called me that in a couple thousand years."

There was a stunned silence at his words, and even Violet's eyes widened at the prospect that this humble doctor could be so old. If it wasn't for the simple honesty in his voice and words, she wouldn't have believed a word of it, but there was no sign that he was lying, or reason for there to be.

"Just how old are you?" John asked, an eyebrow raised.

"I've lived for nearly twenty-four hundred years," he replied evenly. "Even longer than the natural aging abilities of your line, Blaze, long-lived as they are."

[William Talbot]

Will led Violet into the small hidden room, and after the initial exchange, he chuckled slightly and then looked to Kavanagh and then to violet; "Well, Doctor Quinn Kavanagh, this is Darkbrand, DB, here's the Doc and John... I didn't catch any other name, but I guess just John will do."


Looking to the doctor for a moment he blinked slightly and then shrugged; "Oh... Yeah, that is impressive... But on to more current happenings, John, it seems you know who or what thous guys where after, and clearly it was you, but what I and DB would like to know is why? I don't really believe that you're some wanted mass murderer, mostly because I've never seen you're face in the Titans Database, and if what was said was true, there would be a dozen hits on you, so can you shed some light on all of this? No pun intended by the way."

This night was just getting better and better and it was indeed interesting in ways that where both worrisome, bothersome, and even after a fashion, entertaining.

[Violet Schultz]

"Those men work for the a lab in Nevada," John said, his quiet growl of a voice rough with pain and poor temper. "They work for a secret government program which is experimenting on our kind. If one of us ever escapes, they can fabricate a criminal record to keep the cops on their side when they're searching for us. I've never killed a person in my life. What they want is to bring me back to that lab so they can continue their sick experiments."

Standing, he went to the light switch and dimmed the artificial bulbs to a tolerable brightness before he removed his glasses, his eyes still closed before he looked up and at them, his unique eyes shining reflectively, like those of a cat. The silvery purple color almost drew attention from the clear surgical scars on the edges of his eyes, evidence of surgery after surgery done upon them. His dark eyebrows made a hard slant as he locked eyes with Blaze.

"In my case, they were trying to create the ultimate night black ops soldier. With my powers, they figured that night vision might come in handy, so they did this to my eyes. Sure, it makes it easier to see in the dark, but even normal lighting overwhelms them. What's more, they had no right."

Violet's eyes hardened as she listened to his story. She couldn't help but wonder if there was any end to the horror that was the government laboratories. They had no respect for their patients, and they did all manner of foul things to them. Usually, it was even worse than this. Still, she said nothing, evaluating without speaking as she preferred to do. John had a quiet malice about him, like a lion caged, but it didn't seem to be founded on anything other than a difficult past. Much like herself.

"Every death that they cause in the pursuit of me, they put on my record," he said, replacing the glasses on his face and turning the lights back to their previous setting. "They've chased me out of every city I've ever tried to settle. They've killed everyone that I've gotten close to. And at the end of the day, they get off the hook by claiming that it was me."

[William Talbot]

Will stood there thinking as John spoke, and when he was finally done, he pondered a bit more, then looked to Violet and spoke; "Something tells me this is all part of some vast, far-flung plan, it looks like our two headed monster just grew a new head, or maybe none of these places are related, but the fact that they all specialize in the study and experimentation with supers, namely Meta's points to the fact that they may be connected, just not obviously so..."

Knitting his brows in thought, Will frowned a bit then looked to John; "I wanna make sure I understand you correctly, you have powers based on shadows, but the night vision was something they gave you?" he asked as he leaned back on the wall and thought good and hard, trying to see how all the dots could connect... But there where a LOT of dots showing up lately, and they had no clue what the big picture was meant to be. Robin would need a full on briefing on all of this, if not need to be brought in soon...

[Violet Schultz]

"Yeah," he confirmed with a nod. "I had powers of my own which developed when I was a teenager, but when my parents sent me off to get tests done, the lab did this to my eyes. Before that, I could've easily lived a normal life with them, since I'm pretty close to normal when the sun is out."

He leaned back against the wall, folding his muscular arms with a sigh. They had all been there to witness him succumbing to his weakness, that being UV radiation, so there was little point in trying to hide that fact from them. What concerned him more was that the Titans apparently knew so little about what was going on in the labs. It had been going on for years, and clearly it was a matter that would be of great interest to them, so how could they not know more about it? One thing was certain: the kids still in those labs desperately needed the help.

"Wait, so you're saying that the lab that you went to collected kids with families, too? Because so far, it's all been kids from orphanages, that we know of," Violet pointed out from where she stood, her eyebrows drawn together.

"I don't know what they told my parents, but as far as I know, they're still alive," John asserted. "Most of the kids that I saw weren't orphans either. Runaways, mostly, but there was a number of us that still had families."

"Makes me wonder just how widespread this really is," she said quietly. "With how they're getting their patients, there's very little way of us knowing. The whole thing reeks of government corruption, and if that's the case, how bold are they going to get?"

"Well, they don't care what kind of shitstorm they leave in their wake," John growled. "Who knows how far they're willing to take it?"

[William Talbot]

Will frowned slightly as they stood in the room and John explained more of the now clearly bully tactics being used by the labs, and what was worst, was that given what Violet and Tim had found, coupled with what John was telling them...


Violet was likely right, it could be a massive case of Government corruption, or worse, Government approval for what seemed to be the borderline barbaric treatment of children, on a well hidden, and far-flung scale.

"We may need to get the League involved on this... Batman's already aware, however if this is half as big as it looks to be, we could be looking as some massive hurdles here, and elsewhere."


Looking to Violet he set his jaw some then glanced back at John; "Do you know of any other places they may have connections too? Anything at all? I hate to admit it, but we may need to come at this sideways..."

[Violet Schultz]

John stared at the ceiling for a few moments as he contemplated the question, trying to think back to the years he had lived in Nevada, before the fateful power outage. The exactness of the infiltration was far too difficult to pinpoint, given the scope. Although he wasn't aware of all of the particulars, he knew enough from running for as long as he had been to know that the scale of the corruption was far from minor.

"I was kept isolated from the others, for the most part, but on the rare occasions that I did talk to some of the other kids locked in there, I heard that the labs have contracts with some orphanages. I don't know which. I just know that the kids who are legal wards of the state are the easiest to make disappear, and that is what allows them to fly under the radar. I even heard one boy say he came from Belle Reve, and another was transferred from Arkham. Whoever is behind this has a piece of everything, or at the very least, everything government run. It's no small problem. That's why it's so dangerous."

Violet's eyes were narrowed in thought and concern as she listened, her angled brows signalling that she was deep in thought. Still, she said nothing of her thoughts, which drew a small glance from the doctor, whose insight into her body chemistry told him the level of adrenaline in her system during the conversation.

"I have only met a few individuals other than John who have come from those labs, and what they all have in common is that they are in hiding from the government. All levels of the government. Any time one tries to set a cornerstone for a normal life, the labs catch wind of it. This isn't just some obscure sect of the government that's involved. It's on all levels."

"How do we come at something like this?" Violet asked softly.

[William Talbot]

Will crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the floor for a few moments, his mind racing, ideas, possible answers, explanations, theory's and new problems bouncing around inside until he shook his head and looked back up; "Honestly guys, I'm thinking this is more corruption in the government than anything else, someone, either in the private sector or in the government, is allowing this to happen, is connecting all of these dots, all of these people, and while I'm hardly an expert, I'd say that that the driving force behind this all is money, pure and simple."


Letting his hands fall back to his sides, he explained; "If this was as deeply rooted and wide spread as the doc seems to think, then why is it there are so many of us... People with powers that is, roaming the streets free? Why aren't there laws, plainly set up to control us more? To put us within their grasp without any pretenses? Why be so covert about it? I mean, back when the agents left, they didn't just pack up wave good-bye, and clean up their mess, they just freaking vanished like they where never here... And what of the Labs in New York and Gotham? I read Robin and Darkbrand's reports, it was a high end, entrenched, yet mobile set up, easy to hide, move, or deny. No, if they are going to THAT level of effort to keep under the publics radar, then while there might be a PART of the government that is signing off on this, not all of it is. And I would say, certainly not state or local, thats a level of networking that's unheard of in ANY kind of government, especially a Democracy."


Will knew that he was basing his reasoning off of less that totally hard facts, but he was comfortable in his logic, and in some of the discussions he and the other titans had been having on the subject, given Tim's drive to fulfill his promise to Kevin... But that was somewhat of another matter.

[Violet Schultz]

Violet looked up at Will, worry clear in her dark eyes as she answered, though the rest of her face was fairly neutral.

"The question is not 'why haven't they'," she stated softly. "The question is 'why haven't they yet?' In the American democracy, such a thing is clearly against the heart of the laws, but the paperwork is somehow allowing this to happen anyway. Whoever is behind this has sway in multiple levels of government, and that gives them the power they need to get away with what they're doing. With that being the case, I am concerned that this could get much worse. If this is not stopped before the sufficient legal grounds can be crossed, an escalation is entirely possible, and then no one like us will be safe from the arm of the law."

Unlike most citizens in her adopted country, she had never had much faith in the system. Her life had been spent trying to keep away from what the system called "justice". She wasn't naive enough to place her trust in the spirit of the law. The letter was what decided the course of action that would be pursued, not the heart of it. If the letter could be manipulated, as it constantly was, the heart would become irrelevant. It was an unfortunately consequence of living in a nation of technicalities.

"The truth is that there is someone with the motivation, and worse, with the means to do something about it. If we don't act quickly, there's no telling what could happen."

"You all do whatever the hell you want," John asserted. "I'm going to do what the rest of us will be doing: lying low, and trying to stay alive. If this isn't 'bad', I don't want to be around when the shit hits the fan."

"I don't blame you, personally, but any help that you could give us might save the lives of others like us."

"I've told you everything I know," he grumbled. "What else do you want from me?"

[William Talbot]

Will sighed as Violet finished speaking, and then John replied, his mind still going a million miles a minuet, as he considered what she had said, and the attitude and vibes he was getting from John.


As an air of quiet settled over the room, will looked around at everyone else for a few moments before he leaned forward and rested his hands down on a table as he spoke lowly; "Violet is right, and what it comes down to, is the letter of the law, rather than the ideas behind the law, at its core... And as she said, someone, or some group of someones is pushing this, and I can't help but think that it's money. Think about it, what's the one thing we know for sure about all of this?"

He looked to Violet for a moment, then back to John, and then connected the two dots they represented; "With Violet, they where able to isolate a part of her base genetic code, and with it, they have worked out how to apply it to plant life, and now there's some kind of quasi-organic-synthetic mutant breed of cotton that is bizarrely heat resistant. That took a ton of money to figure out. And then with John, they went to all this work to develop his in-born powers, and alter him to exploit them to the fullest, also very expensive in what they did, plus all of that testing." he paused for a moment to let everyone digest that before he clicked the basis of his connection into place; "Think about how much money a company could make if they marketed a brand new kind of fire-resistant fabric to fire departments? With Asbestos outlawed and the current synth-tech being barely half as good, any city worth its smog will drop a big shiny nickle for new suits that would keep its firemen safe for longer, right? And what of the Military? A covert solider who can work in the dark without a clunky and failure prone bit of tech?"
Standing up slightly, he sighed softly; "There's a crap-ton of money that could be made off of the government for that kind of advance tech. There's also a sadly xenophobic sect of the government that still has a loud voice."

After a moment he then wheeled to the side and faced John, and fixed him with a hard look as his fist crashed down onto the table, bowing it in, and showering the floor with smoldering splinters; "Well... You could stop being a pansy and fight back for a change, because I for one, love my city, and it's people, and while I respect the law, I'll be dammed if I let a bunch of fat old stuffed shirts who could care less, twist it up and remove the ones willing to die to protect their neighbors, and the stuffed shirts alike."

He knew that it might seem somewhat... Overly simplistic and idealistic to everyone, but, it was how he felt, there was the duty one had to the laws of the land, and then there was the duty one had to the moral laws one saw about them, and upheld in and of them-self. It was not a point he would concede without a hell of a fight, and if there was one other person who knew that, it was Violet.

[Violet Schultz]

"I didn't take you for an idiot when we first met," John growled, turning to face Will. "I have tried fighting these guys before, and all that came of it was that the people I protected were killed. You want to protect your city so badly? Then get out of it. These people are hellbent on killing or catching us, and they don't care which. And they don't care how many people die for them to take us down. Collateral is just an office term for these people."

They stood eye to eye, with both of them being the same great height, and equally well-built. While his posture wasn't overtly threatening, it was confident and not fazed by Will's display of aggression. He had the presence of someone who lived in the shadow of death so often that it didn't bother him any more. While he wasn't an angry person in general, he was not a man who liked to be challenged or disrespected, especially by a kid with such a naive view of the world. He lowered his sunglasses to look Will in the eyes, his eyebrows narrowed to disguise the pain that the light shot to the back of his head.

"Don't come to me with platitudes," he said, his face in Will's, though his voice was completely calm. "The moral superiority does nothing for you, beyond motivate you. You have no idea what this fight could cost you. This is the real world, with real consequences, and the sooner you grow up and realize that, the safer 'your city' is going to be."

"Hey," Violet interrupted, stepping in between them and placing a calming hand on Will's chest as she looked at John. "Look, I understand all that you've been through. Trust me. But running from this is just a temporary fix. Eventually, someone has to stand up and fight them. This isn't just going to go away. Make no mistake, we are going to be the ones who stand between them and the rest of us, but every person on our side just makes it easier for us. If your help could finish this, isn't that a chance worth taking?"

He replaced his glasses on his face and looked down at her with an impassive cast to his features, though he backed up a step in an unconscious sign of disarming. Her calm diplomacy contrasted sharply with the tactics of her partner, and for a few moments, he was curious about how the two of them managed to get along. She clearly had some sway over him, which seemed fortunate because of his more aggressive demeanor. She didn't seem helpless, but there was something about the way she carried herself which suggested a personality of subtle finesse, which was lacking in the other.

"You can't help anyone when you're dead," he answered flatly.

[William Talbot]

Will snorted at John in reply, but before he could actually speak, Violet stepped in and defused what he could feel as building into a fight, but it wasn't enough to curb the reply he did in fact have; "Screw platitudes, it's the attitude that matters, and Violet is exactly right; burying your head in the sand or tucking tail and running solves nothing and only delays a foregone conclusion. Besides, after we're out of the picture, then it's the everyday people who are next, you might not agree but I think we have a responsibility to stand in the gap, and to be honest, I'd rather die free while standing for something then live in a cage for nothing, but then I guess I'm a stupid idealist after all."


Crossing his arms again be set his jaw and took a long breath before furrowing his brow in thought as something occurred to him... There had to be some kind of trail or pattern they could find, something they didn't know to look for, but was there all the same if only they could locate it.

[Violet Schultz]

Violet glanced at Will and shook her head minutely to discourage him from antagonizing John any further. She knew that he could be a valuable ally and source of information, but he was the sort of man who refused to be strong-armed with words. If they stayed and pressed the matter, they would turn him off from helping them at all. Direct as Violet could be, she was a natural diplomat, and had the personality that would lend to her being able to gain allies easily. She had keen interpersonal instincts.

"We can't force you to help us, and we wouldn't want to," she said , turning her gaze back to John. "Just understand that things will get worse before they get better, and all of us will need each other before this is over. Be safe."

She met his gaze evenly for a moment before turning to exit the room, knowing that Will would likely follow. Although Will certainly had no lack of outspokenness, he generally trusted her judgement calls. She hoped this would be no exception.

John watched her go with well-disguised interest. She was certainly a funny one. She had the scars and the mannerism of someone who had spent time on the harsh side of life, but she was still an idealist, like the man who he remembered called himself Blaze. Yet, her idealism seemed founded on more than naiveté. He couldn't help but be curious about her, but more important than her herself was what she had said. He looked away, not willing to consider it quite yet.