2013-03-28 - Family Affairs: Red Room

For hours, Match was watching the Titans Tower. He knows there is more than one person in there, but thinks only one superhero - Vanguard. Someone seen superheroing with Supergirl in Metropolis. Right now, Match wears a black wig to cover his blond hair, a pair of blue jeans, sneakers, and a plain red t-shirt. Most of the damage he gotten earlier in the day from The Agenda's council is healed, though his nerves still feel tender.

He flies over to the tower and settles down before the front door before entering. He easily gets picked up by the security cameras.

Vanguard was once again on monitor duty. With a cup of coffee nearby, he continued to watch the monitors for signs of external trouble, and he also kept an eye on the lobby, especially with Cheshire gunning for them. He catches movement out of the corner of his eye and looks at the monitor to watch who he thinks is Conner walk in. He hits the button for the intercom for that room. "Hey, buddy. I thought you were out with Cassie?"

It is Kon's voice that responds back at the face looks toward a camera, "Actually, Kara asked me to look into something. It has to do with some recent happenings, so had to get back here." He shrugs at his own words, then remembers to smile a bit.

Vanguard replies. "Cool. Anything I can give you a hand with?" Dedrick really liked Conner. He was a like-able guy. As he talked to him, he continues switching out the feeds on the monitors regularly, in case he might miss something. He also had Rose keeping Lian in an area with a camera so he could check in on them every so often. Roy would find a way to kill him if something happened to her on his watch.

"Ummm, ya, that be great actually." Why not make use of Vanguard, right? Match heads toward the elevator and goes to open it. "Kara wanted me to check on the Red Room. I know, I know, exciting business right?" A roll of his blue eyes that the cameras may catch.

Vanguard meets up with Match and comments in person. "Why? It's fine, I just checked it on the monitor and it's functioning normally. I'd figure you two wouldn't want to set foot in there if it wasn't absolutely necessary. Unless you guys are planning on coming into contact with red kryptonite sometime in the near future?" He falls into step with him on the way to the room as he talks.

The elevator gains Vanguard, and him and Match head down to where storage is kept with Vanguard actually pressing the floor number in the elevator. With the doors opening, Match trails just a half of step behind Vanguard. "Well, you know about recent happenings, right?" Match isn't sure what Superboy and Supergirl shared with their teammates, so he keeps things vague. "Let me just say, we may really need it soon."

For some reason, Match's heart is beating fast. The trust Vanguard just gives him because he is 'Superboy'. He wants to rant and rave, but instead he forces a smile to his face. The jealousy burns in the pit of his stomach at everything Superboy has and he doesn't have a pray for. As Superboy said, he was 'born' with this hatred of him, which has ruined any chance he had at having friends or a team.

Vanguard nods. "Oh yeah, the situation with the clones. I understand Superman took a shot in the no-no area." He winces visibly. "Superpowers or not, dude that has got to hurt. I would definitely NOT want to be the person to sac shot big blue and try to get away with it. I mean, I like to think that I'm a pretty understanding guy...my parents always taught me to turn the other cheek. But that is just not cool." As they walk down the hallway, he turns and walks backwards while facing Match. "Hey, you ask Cassie about double dating with me and Kara, yet? I promise it'll be fun. And it'd mean a lot to Kara..she says she doesn't get to hang out with you as much as she'd like to."

Holy shit, Vanguard is dating Kara?! Could she be two-timing or..., but Match nods. "I haven't yet, but I'm sure it be cool. A bit awkward, but it be fine. Kara's family." Match wants to gag and throw up, and punch Vanguard too while he is at it. His family is someone he has to watch his back against, and when he protected he got punished for it!

But Match just shrugs when the red room is suddenly reached. He pauses to stare at it. Well, not too big, he should still be able to carry the weight. He hrms thoughtfully. "You know, we should create code words or something." Two outcomes Match realized: He takes the sadistic pleasure of beating the crap out of Vanguard, or he sets it up that he ends up having to fight his counterpart. "Especially with clones about, I think it be a good precaution." He moves toward an outside control panel of the red room and opens it up, and notes how Greek it is. Yep, totally Greek.

Vanguard grins. "Sure, it'd be totally fine." He pauses. "One thing, though. I haven't mentioned it to you, yet." He attempts to open the door and then, Vanguard attempts to sucker punch Match. "I felt something was off with you from the start. You're too tense. And your hair, while the correct color, wasn't styled like that when you left earlier today. On the off chance that I'm wrong? I apologize. But if I'm right...I hope you don't think I just fell off the turnip truck this morning." Maybe with surprise on his side, he could handle this. Activate the room with Match in it..though it will most probably not go according to plan.

Match does get sucker punched as he was thinking on manipulating Vanguard rather than giving in to his baser instincts, and goes flying back, crashing into some crates. Suddenly the crates explode all over the place, and there is almost a yellowish energy around him as his upper lip pulls back. "And to think, I was actually going to let you go and not beat you senseless." And Vanguard will soon realize that Match is more powerful than his 'friend', their strength level is about the same, 200 tons. Match is flying toward Vanguard with inhuman speed, his fist raised as if to punch Vanguard, but at the last possible moment, he releases his heat vision instead, angling in a manner to make sure if Vanguard goes flying backwards he doesn't crash into the red room.

Vanguard throws up his arms when the heat vision comes towards him. He attempts to fly up, but he isn't built for speed. The beams slam into his forearms and then into his chest as he slides back on the floor and goes down to a knee. His forearms are burned, but not as badly if he had been a normal human. "I figured out why you came here, poser, but I'm not letting you leave here with that room." Curling his hands into fists, they glow with a white light before he shoots them towards Match, releasing a blast of his bio-energy. He activates his Titan com unit. "This is Vanguard. Match is in the Tower. I repeat, Match is in the Tower!" He grits his teeth from the pain of the burns. "Kon-El told me all about you man. Looks to me like you've been drinking some Hater-ade. Now, I know on my best day I am no match for a kryptonian, hybrid or no. But I don't have to beat you. I just have to hold you off until my team gets here."

Just as Vanguard goes to activate his com unit, suddenly there is a TK field about him, curshing toward him, and will be breaking technology and Vanguard's comlink while he is at it before he can relay his message, though Vanguard will need to struggle to break free...he will succeed as sweat beads on Match's forehead at the effort from only using the connecting floor to extend his powers. "You...know nothing..., or even why this...needs done."

Vanguard curses faintly as his unit is damaged before the message got out. He does fight the TK field with sheer strength alone. His muscles bulge outwards from the strain. "I don't need to know. All I know is that you're giving a good friend of mine a bad reputation. I don't give a damn about whatever plan you have or the people you're working for have. You're trying to hurt people I care about!" He digs deep trying to keep the bubble from crushing him.

The bubble breaks, a bit of blood dripping from Match's left nostril, "And what about the ones I care about?! Oh, don't worry, I already figured it out, my feelings don't matter to anyone, but me!" And Match is then moving, using his speed to his advantage after realizing a prolonged fight with Vanguard will be bad. He is moving up behind you to do a spin kick to your kidney. "But least you spilled who your secret identity is! The list just keeps getting longer. Don't you guys even care about your family? What would happen if I actually told The Agenda everything I knew?" Wait...he hasn't?

Vanguard takes a breath after the bubble breaks but he can't keep up with Match's speed. The shot to the kidney sends him flying again to impact the wall which cracks around his body from the impact. Still, Dedrick pulls himself back up to his feet. Everything hurt and if he survived this the next time he thought about challenging someone like Match, he'd think..well..he'd probably do it again. "I was baiting you, idiot. I'm not dating Supergirl...she's dating this rich kid from Metropolis. And your feelings would matter, if you took your head out of your ass long enough to realize that you're not doing yourself any favors and you won't gain acceptance any faster by doing this." He fires two blasts of bio-energy towards him as he takes off like a bullet towards him. He aims two punches, one for the body, and the other towards Match's jaw. "I'd offer you some cheese for that whine of yours, but you're so damned selfish and self-absorbed you probably wouldn't take it. Elitist bastard!"

"Ya, Dedrick Jones. Not many black superheroes in this world you know, small percentage." Match snorts at that, "Ya, because I'm sure people would have really accepted me as a Bizarro, I didn't have a choice in allies." He reflects the first bio-energy and then dodges the second one barely, but that is when the punch to his body connects, but the one to his jaw misses as he leaps back, holding his gut. He makes a face, "Shit...damn the council...not full strength."

Match looks at Vanguard seriously, "Look, eventually I'll win, even not full strength before help arrives for you. I'll heat vision you into a burn victim and Kara will cry a bucket of tears, and later on if Dedrick isn't you, I can go kick his ass too. /OR/. You can let me leave with the Red Room, and it will stay between the Kryptonians and The Agenda; I'll also give you one piece of information though you would need Superboy to figure it out in exchange. That's actually really big coming from a Hater-ade," the sarcasm obvious.

Vanguard stands up straight, his breath coming harshly as he chuckles. "Hater-ade is what haters like you drink, poser. Get your street slang right, white boy. And you'd be surprised the amount of African American superheroes there are, especially now that the worlds are merged. If..for one second you think that I would just stand back and twiddle my thumbs while you take that thing out of here, then you don't know anything about being a hero. It's my job..no it's my duty to stop people like you from doing whatever you like. You can kill me, no doubt about that. But why even give me the choice? If you're as bad as you say you are, you'd heat vision me anyways and just walk out with the thing."

Vanguard chuckles and then winces as he presses a hand into his side where his kidney is. "You are more like Superboy that you care to admit. It burns you up inside that he's a clone..just like you are. But he's got a life...he has people that care about him. People that respect him. But some of him exists inside of you. Instead of trying to kill that part of you, try nurturing it. Let go of your hate before it destroys you."

"You idoit! I give you a way out and you are busy busting on me and comparing me to my weaker other self!" Match's eyes burn red then. "Fine," he grounds out. "You forced my hand, and it would be disappointing if I didn't take up the challenge." He starts to move, but suddenly pauses to reach up to tap an ear, "What is it Divine?" A pause, "I didn't offer because I cared! I just wanted to make my life easier. You don't need to report shit back, get off my case." Yes, he's arguing with someone. "I can handle this myself, you don't need to crash in to the party!"

He then taps the comlink again, and Match says, "Time to entertain the audience." He is moving again then, and he will be using his speed to his benefit, shooting short and not fully powered heat vision blasts toward Vanguard at different angles, some where he is standing on the floor, and others from up into the air.

Vanguard attempts to move, but again, Match has him well, outmatched that area. He attempts to counter attack by firing bolts of his bio-energy, but the kryptonian can dodge them with his speed. He is struck in multiple places by the heat vision until finally, he collapses onto the floor with several places on his body smoking from the attacks. He was helpless to stop Match from taking what he wanted, but he looks up at him from the floor. "If he's so weak and pathetic...why are you so jealous of him?"

Match lands before Vanguard, leaving cracks in the floor before he straightens up. "You wouldn't understand," his jaw set, his eyes starting to glow red once more.

And unknown to you both, Rose had tried to contact Dedrick earlier about picking up some stuff at the grocery store to fix dinner with. Not wanting to leave Lian alone, she takes the girl with her to the command center when there is no answer. She is the only non-Active Titan member other than Wally that has access to it. That is when she sees what is going on in the cameras. She moves to make a distress call out to the Titans, but when she turns around next, her heart drops. Lian is not there!

While Vanguard was fighting off those head vision blasts and failing, the elevator doors have slid open and Rose is screaming as she waits for it to return up to her. A little girl wearing a Batman Halloween costume is running toward them. And just as Match is about to release another heat vision blast...

The little girl runs between him and Vanguard, arms outstretched to either side as if she can stop the heat vision with her tiny little chest, "Stop! Don't hurt Vanguard!" There are tears in her eyes, and they are being absorbed by the cloth mask as they fall down.

And slowly, the red eyes start to fade and blue eyes are wide in Match's face.

Vanguard's eyes widen when suddenly Lian is in front of him. His heart rate skyrockets as he looks at the girl and then at Match. "Red Arrow, no!" With the last of his strength, he attempts to grab the girl and then curl his body around hers for protection. There is fear on Dedrick's face when looks over at Match and says in almost a whisper. "Take it and go you monster."

Match actually looks a bit sick himself, "I wouldn't...," but then he shakes his head, "It doesn't even matter." No one would believe him. He looks at the Red Room, his expression hard. But he does seem to slip something from a jean pocket and drops it to the ground in front of Vanguard and Red Arrow. He then starts to walk toward the Red Room to lift it up one-handed, the blood that dripped from his nose earlier smeared across his face a bit with most of it gone and likely blended in to his red shirt.

Red Arrow grunts when Vanguard grabs her, and tries to struggle at first as she hiccups, failing to hold back to tears. But as Match starts to walk away, she reaches up to touch Vanguard's cheek, "Why is Superboy hurting you?" The girl looks shattered. She /adores/ Superboy, heart and soul like the rest of the Super Family. But her touch is very gentle when it touches Vanguard's cheek, her dark eyes wide and compassionate.

And perhaps to Vanguard's surprise, Match actually answers her, "I'm not Superboy! Alright, Superboy didn't hurt him. And I'm leaving now."

And that is when a wall section crumbles even though it is underground and dust and noise rise. A tunnel is there through the Earth, and Divine is there in her white and black uniform with black hair. "Let's go cuz." She then actually catches the Red Room when Match tosses it to her and flies out with it. It looked like Power Girl, but her eyes were narrowed and unfriendly when she was here, though she didn't even glance toward Vanguard and the little girl.

Vanguard tries to think of a way to explain it to Lian in terms that she could understand. "That wasn't Superboy, Lian. That was his evil twin with the white hair. Only he was wearing a wig. Superboy would never do anything like this to me." He reaches out for the paper that was dropped and stuffs it into his costume. He tries to smile at Lian, but fails. "Lian, you need to go get Rose. I..I can't move much right now. Get her and tell her to call Superboy and Supergirl."

Match is waiting at the opening, but he then pulls off his wig and tosses it down so Lian can see, and then he is gone in a blur of motion.

Lian looks confused at the hole in the wall and coughs when the dust is starting to settle. "I can get Rose," she says. Her hand moving to pet at Vanguard's hair. She never got this close to him before now, but apparently him being hurt and in danger got the girl over her shyness.

But the elevator door is already sliding open, "No!" She is running and even is carrying a katana with her. Her eyes are looking about, and swallows hard at the emptiness before she starts to run again and kneels near Vanguard and Lian to say, "Do not ever run off like that again! You could have been hurt!" The yelling toward Lian, and the worry in her eyes. But she would have really faced the Superboy clone if need be, as a normal baseline human.

Lian winces, "I'm sorry," she says very softly. "Vanguard can't walk." Awwww, she's pouting.

Vanguard rolls over onto his back. "She's fine, Rose. I can definitely tell she's her daddy's daughter though." He exhales slowly. "Match was here. He took the red sunlight room. I couldn't stop him." He looks over at Lian. "And I think Red Arrow here saved my life. But never, ever do that again. Your father would kill me."

Lian sniffers, "He just shoot you. Mommy would kill you though."

Rose says, "I'd kill him," her expression tense. She is really protective of Lian. But she is there to help lift Vanguard up to take him to the medical bay and tend him with Lian's help who keeps trying to put band-aids on him.