DC: 2011-08-07 - Talking to themselves

"Man...I really hope I didn't accidentally do any of this..."

Cody Bishop sighs as he walks slowly down a path in on to the burned sections of Centennial Park. Sure, no one was technically allowed in the wrecked sections of the park but Cody had gotten the urge to check it out as he jogged by. So now he's surverying the damages that happened during the battle with Effigy. "If I didn't know better, I'd say I had some kind of bad luck powers..." he trails off, poking at a partially melted statue of a horse. "But I haven't met anyone with bad luck powers that I know of so I'm probably safe from that," he says to himself, shaking his head.

Arsenal is checking out the place, mostly because he already did some work in the city. He is taking a break and is curious about the battle Effigy did in the area, especially now that word has it Supergirl has joined the Titans and she was involved in the battle. He is armed to the teeth as per usual while in uniform, and is testing the studiness of a burnt tree by being up in the bloody thing. No leaves to hide his appearance, but he is crouched and very still as he looks over the place. The only thing moving is his mouth, and he isn't talking to himself for once. Na, he's chewing strawberry twislers.

"At least this time I haven't run into any random aliens or super villain guys," Cody continues, walking aroound to the other side of the half melted statue. Idly, he presses a hand against it and ends up giving a surprised yelp as what's left of the metal statue just falls right over and crashes onto the concrete pathway. "Oh man...I did not want that to..." he pauses, squinting at as he sees what looks like a person in a tree. Initially wary, he raises a hand to offer a wave to the man in the tree and hopes he's not about to be in trouble.

Actually, as the talking gets closer, Arsenal perks up attention wise. A group of trouble makers? Then the crash is heard and he grins, heeeey...destruction of public property! He leaps down from where he was and enters a quick roll, out of it fast enough before he losses a single arrow as he darks across the burnt ground. Already, an arrow is in his hand, along with his custom bow. He notches it and draws it with ease as he comes within quite a number of yards of you, the arrow up. "Hands above your head!" Is it a hold up?! No. "Where are the other vandals? I heard the talking." Uh-oh.

Cody's hands go up quickly, eyes wide. "Wait what?" he blinks a few times, looking around. "Vandals? What are you talking about?" he's a little lost. "No one else is here...why are you pointing an arrow at me?"

"Well, just in case you are dangerous and I get to shoot you, which by the way is a lot of fun." Arsenal then grins at that, displaying his carefree demeanor. "And you took out that statue," and he nods briefly toward its general direction. "So...what are you? Crazy by talking to yourself?" He's teasing you now, considering he talks to himself all the time.

"Dangerous?" Cody whimpers slightly. "You've been talking to Batman, haven't you?" he mutters. "I didn't mean to knock it over. It just fell. It was an accident," he's keeping his hands up. "I'm not crazy...just used to having no one to talk to but myself."

Arsenal is thoughtful for a moment then, relaxes the pull on the bow, "Batman said you were dangerous? Daaaaaamn! That's impressive. So what half-assed crazy thing did you do?" He is suddenly sounding very amused, "And who the hell are you?" The arrow is slipped away back into the quiver and his bow his hooked to the arrow box. He then makes a dramatic bow, "Arsenal, at your service. My apologizes for the crude greeting, I was really hoping for some more bad guys to beat up tonight." He then sighs dramatically, "Alas. Didn't meet my quota tonight."

The sudden relaxation just has Cody staring for a few moments. He wonders if maybe he hit his head and happens to be imagining this but shakes that off. "Well umm...I have super powers and he thinks that makes me dangerous," he replies awkwardly. "Uh, don't worry about it. I'm well...when I do the superhero thing I'm called Ditto but I don't have a costume or mask or anything," he says, offering his hand. There's a pause. "You don't have any powers do you?" he asks, ready to pull his hand back if the answer is yes.

"Costume's and masks are half of the fun man! You got to get one. So, what is Ditto for? Double the trouble?" Arsenal appears in a good mood even if he isn't meeting his quota tonight. "Not last I checked, I'm just damn good at what I do!" And Arsenal pauses from accepting your hand, and sounds very wary all of a sudden, "Why?" He suddenly thinks you may not be a good guy, and he just borrowed some trouble in admiting he didn't have powers.

"Because I copy powers when I touch people with them," Cody replies with a sigh. "And Batman said he doesn't want me doing that..." he trails off. The formerly homeless teen gives a little shrug. "I was thinking about a costume. I'll ask Supergirl about it next time I see her..."

Arsenal then relaxes and accepts your hand to shake, "Ah, ya, I can see what he means. An untrained Kryptonian? Scary! Anyway, Supergirl's hot, but asking a girl to help design your uniform? Not sure that's the greatest idea. She might have you in a mini-skirt, and wow! Her in a mini-skirt is....anyway, but you? Not so hot, sorry man," Arsenal states with a sense of humor. "The hairy legs just doesn't work for it."

Cody is just happy to be able to touch someone, the handshake meaning a lot. "Yeah, I think I was more scared than him when I started shooting lasers out of my eyes for no reason I knew of," he says with a nervous little chuckle. "I don't think she'd put me in a skirt...I was going to ask if she knew anyone I could talk to about getting a costume," he pauses and looks down. "My legs aren't hairy right now...hair burnt off when I copied that Effigy jerk's powers..."

A pause, and then Arsenal bursts into laughter. "Alright, that was payback...don't give me that imagery again." He then chuckles, "A lot of teens take inspirations from their predcessors, but I don't know of anyone that can copy powers. Why not stick with something basic like mine or the Bat-Family? Slightly padded as you don't know if the powers you copy will have super durability, and your favorite colors? Keeping it simple isn't always a bad thing, and you can always upgrade your costume later on if you want to. It isn't like you are stuck with it forever."

Cody stares a moment. "Payback for what? What imagery?" Yep, he's lost. At the mention of predecessors, Cody looks away with a frown. "Supergirl told me about Amazo and Parasite being the only power copiers she knows about. Both bad guys..." he trails off, not happy about this in the least. "Simple is good. And I like padding considering how often I seem to get knocked around and into," he pauses. "Favorite color?"

"Never mind," Arsenal just sounds amused at your expense of course. "Yes, like mine is red, and I make use of it in my suit. I also like brown. It used to be yellow, especially when I was Speedy. But I outgrew that, the current Speedy can wear it all she wants though." He then shrugs, "So your favorite color...blue, green, tan?"

Cody tilts his head to the side, listening closely. He understands the concept of a favorite color, he just can't remember what his is. He looks Arsenal's suit over, taking a few mental design notes but then shrugs. "Umm. I really have no idea," he admits sheepishly. "See...there's something really wrong with my memories. I can't even remember my real name...so I don't know what my favorite color is."

"Umm...seriously? Why not do a fingerprint check and photo comparison of missing persons? There are tons of ways to find out who you are." Arsenal sounds a little confused by this, especially if Batman is involved on why he hasn't found out already. "Hell, I could likely find that out for you, or do you already know just don't remember it?" Now he seeks clarification. "Geez to lose your memories....that has to suck. Even when your memories are hell itself, they are still yours."

Cody jumps in surprise at Arsenal's reaction. It's honestly the best one to his loss of memories that he's seen. "Batman said my memories aren't a priority," he replies. "And Supergirl said something about searching the computer but I'm not sure how that's going..." he pauses. "You could?" there's hope in his tone. "All I really remember is the first name Cody...and it just feels right. No idea if it's the right name or not or where I'm from. I woke up in a bush in a park a couple weeks ago. Soaked, no ID, no memories," he shrugs.

"Any wounds? Did you file a police report at all?" Arsenal is frowning again. "Having a copy of the police report would help a lot and stop me from asking repeat questions," he says with absolute seriousness.

"I didn't seem hurt. Just a pounding headache and I couldn't really see clearly for a bit," Cody shifts awkwardly. "Police? I...didn't think to go to them..."

"Umm..that's really strange Cody. I honestly think you should go to them. They would make the search a lot easier too, and if you are a missing persons, they could be searching for you right now. What if you have worried family or something? It just seems odd that you wouldn't go to the police first thing," Arsenal admits.

Cody looks down, sighing. "I don't know why I didn't go to them. I just...had no idea who I was or where I was. Couldn't see or think straight just..." he shrugs helplessly. "Batman already seems mad at me...wouldn't going to the cops just make it worse?"

Arsenal says, "I guess, well, I'll take care of it," Arsenal says with a bit of a sigh. "But working outside the law isn't always the best idea Cody. The law isn't the enemy, remember that, alright?" He's serious about it. "Not that everything so warm and fuzzy in it, corruption can be anywhere, but give it proper respect, especially as a hero." But then on to the main topic, "Where can I get ahold of you to get your finger prints so I can put them through the system? I'd also want to get a recent picture for comparsions of missing person reports, also a list of any birth marks or scars that might help identify you.""

Cody pauses, flashing back to getting shot at the other day thanks to a case of mistaken identity. Shaking it off, he nods to Arsenal. "They're not the enemy," he repeats. "Umm. Well my finger prints are right here," he holds up his hands. "But Batman has me staying in this apartment," he pauses to give the address. "I don't have any pictures of me...or anything else for that matter."

"I'll bring the ink and paper by for the prints, and my digital camera for a photo, no biggie. Normally I charge for this sort of stuff, but hey," Arsenal grins at that, "A friend can do favors for each other. Welcome to the superhero community Ditto," he says with a decent amount of warmth.

At the mention of charging, Cody looks a little nervous. He's just got that small bit of cash the Bat gave him for food and clothing. He relaxes when the archer tells him it's a favor. He grins when called a friend too, nodding. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome. Anyway, if I went asking for Batman to pay up, he would just tell me to go to hell," Arsenal adds with a chuckle. "Anyway, I'll stop by within a week and get the information. I'll bring pizza too. If you need to get ahold of me for anything, just call Titans Tower," he advises.

"That is much more than he'd say to me," Cody replies with a little nod. He's just been getting scary glares. "Okay," a beat. "You're not allergic to cats are you? Supergirl's cat is staying there too. Pizza sounds really good," he adds. There's another pause and a blank expression. "Titans Tower?"

"Oh, ya, memory loss. Titans Tower, let me guess, he didn't give you a cell phone? Anyway, our emergency number is listed on our web site, not sure if it would be in the phone book here in Metropolis to be honest. It's the headquarters to the Titans, the superhero group that I'm a member of."

"He did but he said not to let anyone have the number ever," Cody replies, rubbing the back of his neck. He nods a little, making a mental note to look up this website the next time he braves the internet. He perks up at the mention of the Titans. "Oh yeah! I saw something about that team on the news."

"How you supposed to call people then? Ah well, if you have it with you, I can program the number inside it if you don't know how, and teach you how to do it too while I'm at it. It's easy. I'm not sure where your memory holes start and where they end. There are different types of anemsia," Arsenal admits. "I suggest looking it up on the internet." "I don't know. I only know you, Supergirl, Batman, Solarflare, and that Dr. Mid-Nite guy," Cody shrugs. "Yeah, I have it," he says, pulling the phone from his pocket. Batman's got him scared enough to make sure he always has it. The one time he didn't was when Effigy attacked. "I'm not sure either. Okay, that's something else to look up," he nods again.

"Solarflare? Never heard of him," Arsenal admits. "I heard of Dr. Mid-Nite, but never met him." Arsenal moves to stand beside you and starts showing you buttons on the cell phone, having you push them yourself so you can program in the Titans number. He provides the number to you from memory. "I'm sure if it's a cell phone from Batman, the number will likely be blocked on caller ID. Anyway, just whoever is manning the phones, say it is Ditto calling for Arsenal. I'll give them a heads up in case there is any emergency."

"He's big and orange. No shirt. Supergirl has him staying with the Titans after his ship crashed here. He knows someone named Starfire," Cody explains. "I had to get examined by the doctor. I ended blind for two hours because of that," he frowns. He pays close attention to the cell phone instructions, following the directions and smiling when he actually gets it right. "Thank you! I'll call if something happens."

"Sounds like a male version of Starfire," Arsenal admits. "I haven't been back in the last 24 hours, just talking to...umm...someone, so not up to date with all the news." Basically, Lian's nanny, Rose Wilson. "Anyway, you have the Titans Tower number now for emergency," and he smiles at taht. "I should actually start getting back," though he does open a pouch and offer you some twislers, "Want any?"

"Probably more in the know than me," Cody remarks with a smile. "Right. Here's hoping there aren't any emergencies," he replies with a nervous little chuckle. WHen offered the candy, Cody blinks but takes one of the Twizzlers. "Thanks. Can't remember if I've ever had these before," he says. "It was nice to meet you, Arsenal."

"It's been great man, just keep in one piece in the meantime!" Arsenal then starts to walk away, humming while he chews his own piece of twizzler. He really does seem like a carefree guy, completely different from Batman, that's for sure.