overjoyed_logs | [closed] no offence

Entry tags:

dc comics | carrie kelley

[closed] no offence

Who: Kara & Carrie
Where: Westerley
When: Week 2; Day 1
Summary: How did Kara get an apprentice this is ridiculous
Restrictions/Warnings: violence at some point probably, talk of non-consensual experimentation

[It's been a long, shitty week and the last thing Kara wants to do is get involved in any more bullshit, but Kara has a string of contacts she's asked to keep an eye out for certain names and faces, so when one of them hits her up with information, she has to follow it up.

This isn't quite the kind of thing she'd usually get Carrie involved with, but she knows that with Kara's little trip off-world, the kid is going to be itching for something to do, and a trade like this is relatively low risk. Kara's still getting used to having to consider someone else when it comes to her side job, mostly because she'd gotten used to doing almost everything alone. Relying on people is a mistake, and having someone rely on her is even worse. But Carrie is the type who's going to get into trouble regardless of whether Kara is involved or not; at least this way she can look out for her.

(She doesn't acknowledge the fact that Carrie reminds her of some of the younger soldiers who used to be under her command).

A text is sent with an address - a couple of blocks away from where Kara is due to meet her contact - and a time, so all she has to do is wait for Carrie to show up.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Carrie is definitely watching closely, and that check of the gun goes very much cataloged. She saves it for later, to put with whatever other information she can manage to pull up about this big ball of mystery she's working on here. She waits overhead, patient, a little shadow of a gargoyle at the roof's edge that watches for signs of trouble from any side. They don't come.

She hits the ground lightly behind Kara once they're both out of sight of the contact (she'd jumped the last 10 feet, because lately she's just been — getting better with her landings, she guesses, it's a work in progress) and jogs a couple steps to fall in next to her. ]

Good news or bad? [ Quick can mean either. She watches Kara close, still seeking those clues. ]

[That isn't exactly the easiest question to answer and Kara buys herself some time by pulling out her phone to check the time and make sure she hasn't missed any messages.]

Thought we'd have more time.

[Maybe that means it's bad. The problem is that Kara doesn't know what she wants out of this, or how she should handle it, or if she's even ready to face Dr. Niels.

She isn't even sure if she wants to let Carrie get involved in this, but what's done is done.]

Our guy's gonna have armed guards, I want you to keep your distance, alright?

Yeah, no sweat.

[ Which is what she always says, whether or not she intends to listen. It's good advice, but she'll let the situation dictate. And in the meantime, her curiosity is about killing her. She pulls her bike around to line up with Kara's, ready to take off when she is. ]

What're the guards guarding, though? [ She doesn't go for a blunt approach much, this is about as straightforward a request to know what's going on as she'll try. ]

[It's a blunt question and Kara could refuse to answer, or give a vague one, but she can't exactly hide what's going on forever.]

My old friend. Either he's gotten paranoid in his old age, or he knows I'm here.

[Dr Niels was one of many responsible for Kara, but he led the team at the time, so she lays a good portion of the blame on his shoulders, and the urge to get revenge is hard to ignore.

Kara isn't going to give Carrie much time to process that, though, because as soon as she's finished speaking, she revs her bike and takes off.

Their destination is one of the ports at the edge of Old Town, normally a half hour trip but they make it in twenty, because there are times when things like traffic rules aren't important. Kara pulls up at the entrance rather than going in, wanting to keep that element of surprise.]

[ Well, it's kind of an answer. An obvious one, but that's what she gets for that approach. She's still considering adding another question when Kara makes it a non-choice. Fine. Back to waiting and seeing, then.

She follows just behind, a common arrangement, and finds herself a little delighted that they're skipping traffic rules today. That always makes for a more eventful drive. But it's still only a little without knowing the actual cause of the rush. Is it something to be concerned about? Some kind of trouble? She wouldn't put that past Kara — which is one of the many reasons she likes her.

Robin's bike pulls up next to Kara's, engine cut only when Kara's is, with eyes on her for a lead. No more questions, she's decided. She'll let Kara work and be the extra pair of hands and eyes as needed, and figure it out on her own or when she's told. Whichever comes first. ]

[The ship is scheduled to leave in forty minutes. Forty minutes to come up with a plan to get around a handful of armed guards without drawing Company attention, without putting Carrie in too much danger, and without letting the good doctor get away to tell the Einherjar where Kara is.

It's then she realizes the decision is already made - he has to die. But first she needs to know why he's here, in case there are more of them coming.

Kara kicks the stand down for her bike and climbs off, waiting for Carrie to do the same before she starts walking again. If they try to go through the front gate, someone's going to ask about their business, and someone might remember their faces. She wants the bikes close for an easy escape route, but she leads Carrie to the right, away from the gate.]

You know the layout here?

[Kara's done enough loading of slightly (very) illegal shipments to have a rough idea of where people are usually stationed, where the ships wait for clearance, and how to get in undetected. But Carrie might not know all that. Still, better to ask.]

Yeah, sure.

[ And she even resists adding an eyeroll to it. But come on, if it's a matter of where, Carrie's totally got it. Wheres are easy. She slides after Kara like a colorful shadow, eyes on the area around them. There are always ways in aside from the front door, and she's already dialed into a handful of them here. ]

Just say where you need me, boss. I'll be there.

[Don't think about rolling your eyes at her, young lady.]

He's at Bay 12, whatever ship's a couple bays away, see if you can get up there to keep an eye out.

[This really isn't the sort of thing that Carrie needs to be close to, no matter which way it goes.

It's why Kara grows a little more serious, catching Carrie's gaze.]

I meant what I said about the guards. Whatever goes down, don't engage, even if I get hurt.

[She's never told Carrie about her mods, and she doesn't plan to, so she needs to make this clear.]

[ Wow, a couple bays away, not even gonna trust her to be right next door? But the caution is noted, if nothing else. She glances up to meet Kara's gaze as it finds her, and lies with as straight a straight face as has ever lied: ]

You got it.

[ And hey, maybe she won't need to show it's a lie. Maybe Kara comes out of this just fine, and Robin's kept the distance she promised. ]

[This is a bad idea and Kara is starting to wonder if it's actually worth it, but she's here now and she needs to know if she's in danger.]

Don't be seen.

[With that final word, Kara slips through a gap in the fence and heads towards the bay where Niels' ship is, drawing the gun from the back of her jeans and clicking off the safety, ready for whatever happens. The first guard she comes across isn't paying enough attention and so she snaps his neck without making a sound, lowering him gently to the ground to avoid a thud. They're wary, but not overly so, and it leads Kara to suspect that the doctor doesn't know she's here.

Which means she could leave right now, but that won't tell her why he is here, if it's not for her. If the Einherjar are reaching towards Westerley, she'd like to know.

The second guard doesn't even see her, allowing her to slip into the ship where she quickly and silently disposes of a third man. The ship is small, Niels is through the next door, hidden slightly from view of the guards outside, and there's only the pilot with him.

Both of them fall silent when Kara points her gun at Niels.

Kára. He looks surprised, but his voice is as cold as ever. So this is where you ended up. Have you decided to come back home?

She demands to know why he's here, and Niels only smiles before launching into a spiel about co-operation with the Company and aligning interests and their important work and it isn't until Kara hears footsteps behind her that she realizes he's distracting her. The worst part is that she fell for it, her curiosity got the better of her.

Without hesitating, she shoots both Niels and the pilot (she hates to kill someone just for taking the wrong job, but she can't afford witnesses), diving down to avoid the retaliating shot from the guard behind her. A bullet clips her leg, sending a shot of pain through her that she ignores in favor of rolling as she lands, turning her gun on the guard and shooting him in the chest.

The commotion is enough that she knows she has to leave now.

Darting out the door, Kara barrels past another guard and hopes he won't realize what's happened until she's cleared enough distance, not wanting to get into a gun fight out in the open. More importantly, though, she looks upwards, hoping to spot a sign of Carrie.]

[ The sound of gunshots, muffled but unmistakable from inside Niels's ship, had just about killed her. She abandoned her post in that first instant, of course she did, and now it's Niels's ship she's darting along the top of instead. But Kara reappears just as she'd been considering finding an entry, thank god, and her on-the-fly plans change yet again.

She races along the top of the ship just a few paces behind Kara at its base, with her slingshot out and already loaded. It's the explosive pellets loaded up, but she's got a couple smokes in hand too. Just in case. She doesn't look at Kara, too busy keeping her attention sharp on anyone around the woman that might be taking too violent an interest in her.

And — there, the guard just heading out the interior of the ship, he's got his gun out and taking aim. Robin doesn't even stop running, doesn't have to; she just twists, fires off a hit, and keeps up her dash.

The shot hits at his feet, loud and bright. He'll get a couple burns, sure, but more important is everyone who's gonna look at him and not at Kara — and his shot that doesn't get fired and isn't likely to, what with the barrel waving all wild like that.

She's grinning, like she always does when things get loud and quick. Man she loves this part. ]

[This is bad; a handful of guards appear from god knows where and Kara still can't risk firing a single shot, not when there's a few of the Company men coming to investigate the commotion.

This was stupid.]

Cover!

[The word is shouted up at Carrie, the meaning clear. They need some smoke to hide their escape.]

[ Oh, it's definitely clear. She catches the slingshot's pouch on its rebound and drops one of the three pellets ready in her palm into it. The next shot an instant later is silent, but comes with an explosion of purely smoke. It fills the area in seconds, helped along by two more shots of the same.

With her bird's eye view, Robin's still got a pretty good handle on the situation. She fires off two more shots, the bright and flashing kind, into the faces of two men looking ready to take their chances and fire into the smoke from the edge of the expanding cloud, and changes their minds.

She taps the piece behind her ear once to bring the channel to life, sending down a quick: ] Straight ahead 'n left, still clear.

[ By now she's out of ship, which doesn't stop her. A flying leap and a sharp twist through the air has her landing on the next over, gaining her a little more running ground. Her eyes trace a quick path up into the beams of the ceiling for even more mobility, if need be. That part depends on where Kara's headed. ]

[The instructions and distractions are both appreciated, though Kara stops for a brief second when she realizes that one of the guards, blinded by the flashbangs, is shooting up towards where Carrie was. The smoke might make it hard to see, but Kara isn't risking Carrie catching a stray shot, so she quickly eases a knife out of her boot and throws it back at the guard, catching them in the shoulder.

With that taken care of, she heads to their bikes, slipping through the same gap in the fences that got her in. There's blood dripping down her leg but that doesn't stop her hopping on her bike. What stops her from taking off, though, is Carrie.

The last thing Kara's going to do is leave her.]

[ Back to the bikes it is. She hasn't been spotted, as far as she can tell, except by the guy Kara kindly took care of — so she vaults herself a few stories higher with the help of a couple different docked ships, and hits the rafters running. From there it's a straight shot to an outside facing window, a few slides and a creative swing across and down rooftop, and she leaps the last ten feet to end it in a roll and pop up with a grin.

Any cool one-liners she might've had in mind falter when she spots some bloodstain on Kara's leg. Her stare only lasts a few instants, though, then she swings a leg over her own bike to gun it after Kara's.

There's going to be time for concern later. Finishing off a solid escape comes first. ]

[They have a headstart and Kara plans to take full advantage of it now that she's sure Carrie is safe; her bike is fast, but she relies more on knowing the streets than on speed. She has faith in Carrie being able to keep up, though she does toss the occasional glance over her shoulder to make sure Carrie's still with her.

After about fifteen minutes and a certainty they haven't been followed, Kara changes course to head back to her apartment. Another five minutes puts them in the garage beneath her apartment block, Kara cutting the engine with a sigh.]

Fuck!

[It's a rare burst of anger, punctuated by Kara slamming her fist against the handlebars. It's only the knowledge that she'd break the damn thing that stops her from getting off the bike and throwing it against a wall.]

[ Carrie eases her bike in after Kara's, still running pretty high on exhilaration. The last five minutes, sure by then that they weren't followed, were good for a start of a comedown, but not enough. No, enough is Kara's outburst, leaving her as concerned as it does wildly curious.

She's quiet on her bike beside Kara for a few seconds, watching, before she swings off, sets the stand, and heads over. ]

Let's see it. [ That's with a gesture toward her leg and eyes downcast toward it. If Kara wants to talk, she'll have plenty of opportunity while they deal with this. ]

[It's almost automatic, the way Kara shakes her head to dismiss the concern, only vaguely registering that Carrie's going to be in for a shock when she realizes the wound will already be partly healed.]

Just a graze.

[But she doesn't move, instead scrubbing a hand over her face as she tries to get herself to calm down.

The results are debatable.]

Are you okay? You didn't get hurt?

'M fine.

[ She's always fine — and if she weren't fine, it'd be some slip up and fault of hers, and she'd deal with it.

But regarding Kara, if she's not going to move to make this easier, Carrie will just drop to a crouch next to the bike in front of the leg in question. Seeing as Kara probably doesn't want to go pants off in a garage, she settles for a brief examination through whatever gash has been left in the fabric of them. Just to see what level of aid they're looking at, here. ]

[She considers pulling her leg away, stalking off and leaving Carrie here, but she's not that cruel and something tells her they're going to have to have this conversation sooner or later.

Beneath the torn denim, the wound is pink rather than the bright red to be expected from a half hour old bullet wound, and the blood is barely a trickle.

She'll be fine.]

[ At first she's not quite sure what she's seeing. She must have the wrong leg, this is an old cut. But — the blood stain on denim is still there. This was definitely bleeding not twenty minutes ago. Her hand had been halfway to the pouch that holds the gauze and disinfectants, but she pauses when she realizes there's really no need for it.

The sight gets a few seconds of consideration then, thoughtfully, she drops her hovering hand and leans back on her heels, shooting a look up at Kara.

There's a lot of questions in that look, but none of them make it into voice. They don't need to. She has enough faith in Kara to trust she knows exactly what Carrie's wanting to know. ]

The doctor's legacy. Nanites.

[It answers two questions, both of which she knows are inevitable because Carrie is almost insatiable when curiosity is concerned, and eventually she was going to ask about what happened at the dock.]

[ She watches Kara for a few seconds more, judging, considering. Then her gaze drops back down again to her leg, where it borders on appreciative. ]

Handy. [ Among other things. She rises from her crouch again, back once more to watching Kara. ] Gonna guess he added a couple other tweaks.

[ No one gets this level of pissed over miraculous healing nanites. ]

[At some point being Carrie looking at her and that unspoken question, Kara realizes this was inevitable. If she was going to keep working alongside Carrie, there was no way to keep all this a secret forever; either Carrie would accidentally brush against the wings at some point, or Kara would need to make use of them.

What she's less certain of is whether she can trust Carrie. This isn't like Ginshu, where she had an equally terrible secret to hold over his head, and there's a difference between trusting Carrie to work well and trusting her with this.

Kara pinches the bridge of her nose, frustrated, and then mentally switches off the cloaking device. Her wings are folded tight against her back, though they don't fit quite properly against her small frame, and the white feathers are dirty in places. She takes better care of them than she does most things, but Westerley isn't that clean.]

[ Although she doesn't make a sound, the instant Carrie's eyes discover the sudden addition and land on Kara's wings, they go wide. There's a silent breath taken in, a lip bitten, and instantly she shifts around Kara for a better view of them at her back.

She's not sure what to make of them, really, or why in the world a doctor would want to give someone wings, but she does know: they are cool as hell. It's entirely possible she's never seen anything this awesome before, actually.

She's got a hand outstretched without even realizing she'd moved, but pauses it before it makes any contact. ]

Can I touch 'em?

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

gently glosses over some stuff

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject