2017-08-26 - Day Two

-X- Cir-El -X- 0/10 Spice 10/10 Anachronism 10/10 Bloodstone 10/10 Cammi 10/10 Juston 9/10 Aquagirl 10/10 Red Raven 1/10 Kid Briton - 10/10 Deathlock 10/10 Vanguard 9/10 Starfire 9/10 Batwing 9/10

Arena - Day 2.

Currently the forested area is covered in a light layer of snow. The group has decided over a heated argument that they shouldn't leave Red Raven, whose neck is broken and is clearly dying. Not everyone has agreed, but no clear leader has emerged either. Mostly the arguments. " Red Raven was a goner and waiting around for her to die was not safe. The others just didn't understand. So rather than wait around for the inevitable and unable to make himself finish Red Raven off, at least not in front of people who knew his father, Batwing set himself to scouting. His black uniform stands out against the white snow but he does his best to move quietly and ensure he is the first to see and not be seen. He's ditched his usual hooded cloak at the moment, tying it up with bat rope and slinging it over a shoulder, he didn't want it snagging on things, and given the strength of some of the others in the game he didn't want to give them something to grab either.

He moves on going tree to tree pausing to look ahead, both for danger and to get the lay of the land. They had 30 days in this place and unlike his friends playing vigil for Red Raven, he wasn't sure that people weren't going to start playing Arcade's game eventually, and when they did, Batwing was going to need to make sure he had every advantage.

A squirrel dumps a load of white into the path, narrowly missing the young man. Luckily for the squirrel, it ducks behind a branch and makes a hard target of itself. It's already nervous, aware that there are hunters in the area. The snow is unmarked; it fell last night, hiding most of the tracks that the group has made mucking about, but this isn't exactly close to the base anyway.

Which is when Damien hears a voice from above, away from the squirrel's location. "Stop right there."

Batwing looks up at the squirrel scowling but then that scowl becomes out right murderous when the voice from above addresses him. So much for not being seen. Lapses like this could get him killed. He freezes though, hands out to his side as he tries to get a look at the source of the voice out of the corner of his eye. "Okay, I'm stopped. Who are you and what do you want?" He begins bringing one hand in slowly, reaching for his belt.

"Yeah, good. You listen, that's step one," says the voice. A girl, about thirteen if you're any judge, drops down from the tree to the ground about twenty feet away. She has a pistol of some sort drawn and is wearing a red jumpsuit. She's clearly good at hiding, if she was wearing THAT and stayed out of sight. "Now do exactly what I tell you, or you die. Don't take another step."

Batwing watches the girl with the gun land. He's tempted to make a play but holds off waiting to see what happens next, a step he regrets when he sees the gun. The suit could take a hit he reasons, I can still draw and fling a batarang before she can blast through the armour. Unless she goes for the head... a less than helpful voice in his head chimes in. "Alright what do you want me to do?" he asks sizing her up as he waits for a reply.

The kid smiles, almost as if she's making fairly accurate guesses of what he's thinking. She doesn't raise the pistol, but it's clear that she's watching for him to try something. Very, very cautious, and not willing to give away the protection that the tree offers her back. "First thing," she says, eyes flicking down for an instant, "pull your right leg back away from that land mine you seem so eager to stomp." She raises an eyebrow, eyes locked on him once again. She only glanced down to let him know the direction, she's very good. But reliance on gear...probably not a super.

Batwing doesn't need to be told twice when it comes to landmines. He slides the foot back slowly, watching the girl to make sure he's moving where it's safe and not into another mine. When he's sure he's clear he looks to her and remarks, "Landmines impressive. Hardly something one just carries around." Read: She must have been in on this to be that prepared. He waits for her answer.

The girl's face sparks a memory, something about space, but Damian didn't pay attention to this particular one. She's wearing a space suit, now that he gets a look at it more closely. She raises the pistol, keeping her finger off the trigger but aimed, and she looks like someone who knows how to use it. At thirteen, this is some kid. "If you take two steps to your right and then six forward, you can get near enough we won't have to shout," she says, though the subtle signs of buried mines are visible to Damien now that he knows to look for them. He COULD get to her, if he needed to.

Which is probably why she's aiming now and wasn't earlier. "I like to be ready. And this isn't some stupid game, like you all seem to think."

Space? Hmm. He tries to remember the rest of the file. The uncertainty that lack of information causes earns a further pause from Damian. Space could mean alien and if he has to fight her he wants to know he's not picking a fight with a Martian or a Kree. He moves out of the minefield and when he's out of where he can see mines he asks. "So, are you going to keep pointing that at me or are we going to talk, because you're right, this isn't a game."

The eyebrow raises a little higher, as the pistol keeps tracking Damian's forehead. "Shrapnel," she says, keeping him in her sights. "That's the only reason I even stopped you from walking on the mine at all. I don't want your shrapnel in my tree. That's as friendly as I intend to get, boy-oh."

She lowers the pistol enough that she can see his eyes, but could still blow away his torso instead. "That's plenty close enough. I've seen killers before, you keep back and keep your fingers away from the pockets."

Batwing nods as he eyes the girl close up."So the shrapnel doesn't give away your position, smart," he says and sounds impressed while he says it. Though when the pistol lowers he moves, quickly. Stepping in he grabs for her gun hand while his other hand lances out with a palm strike for her chin.

KA-ZAT is the noise the gun makes as she fires, completely ready to do so and quick on the trigger. She's good, even has the killer instinct that lets a person actually act when holding a gun on someone, but her aim isn't trained as well as she would be under proper teachers. She throws herself sideways into the snow, right into the landmines like she knows exactly where they are, and fires again hoping that a lot of shots really fast will make up for her aim. She saw him start to move and reacted perfectly, but just isn't as good as the guy attacking her.

That first shot comes faster than Damian thought it would and it thacks hard into his suits Kevlar winding him so he barely has time to leap back to avoid he second one. He grabs a batarang arms it and throws it blind towards the minefield. Though with what feels like a horse's kick to the stomach there's no telling where the thing will land. He rolls into cover with a groan.

The girl's eyes go wide, and she launches herself the opposite direction as Batwing throws. She's got good instincts, which is why she doesn't SEEM to take damage as the mine goes off. Teach her to save people from her traps, they just go and attack you first chance they get. The explosion is muffled, not a bright flash, just shrapnel designed to tear people's legs off. A bit bounces off of Batwing's armor as he covers himself; no telling how bad the girl got it, since she was closer, but he can hear her scurrying in the darkness. Not in his direction, she's clearly retreating.

Batwing figures he has a moment to take care of his wound when he hears scurrying. He pulls a medkit from his belt and quickly injects some painkiller. He's not bleeding at least where he can see and that's something. He gets up quickly though, despite the painkiller not yet kicking in and begins to move after her trying to swing wide around the mines.

Which is when the sound goes up a tree. She's a climber, and for someone her age she's got to be someone who's been hunted before. If she's going to a retreat zone, Damien's instincts tell him not to rush. She's not going to run to anyplace that hasn't been prepared for hunters.

Then his memory rushes, just a glimpse caught in passing but he HAS seen her file. A picture of this girl doing a zero-g handstand as she siphoned fuel frm the power cells of a Shi'ar warhawk. Wanted posters from no less than three major alien star systems, and a picture of her standing side by side with Nova and Drax the Destroyer. As friends. The littlest space pirate, Camille Benally. Disappeared from Coot's Bluff, Alaska, during an ET incident two years ago. Apparently she's had an interesting life since then.

Right now, said alien kidnapee is heading upward for a good spot she can keep herself alive. From someone she clearly thinks is trying to murder her.

As the memories flood back in he finds himself feeling a little bit better about her getting the drop on him seeing as she is a wanted space criminal. If he survived, he'd have to tell Dick about this. He stops his pursuit and leans against a tree facing towards where she went. "Truce," he calls out into the woods. Not expecting her to believe him.

The scurrying slows, or becomes less audible at least. Shortly afterward, someone in the tree above'ish calls down, "You shot first," clearly pissed. Then, "Walk away, that's a truce in my books." She's giving no more info than she absolutely has to, not for someone who just tried to knock her out. But her breath is clearly ragged. She doesn't even use ammo driving the point home; that'd give him more of her location to use against her.

Batwing grits his teeth. Her reasoning was sound, he did attack after she saved her but he was on edge and all his old instincts were coming back, like never let someone put a gun in your face without a response. He sighs. "Tt. I would piss off the only person making any sense around here." He reaches into his belt and takes out two batarangs and couple of items from his medkit and puts them all on the ground. "Camile, I-" he hated admitting fault. "Miscalculated. I'm leaving a peace offering. Let's not try to kill each other next time." Unless we have to... goes the unspoken part of that sentence.

There's a slight pause, then "Cammi," is offered. Slight peace offering in return, but that's all. "Camille is dead. She died a long time ago." Likely two years ago, when she was abducted by aliens. The subtext is obvious; Camille was slow and stupid. Cammi will survive. Then, out of nowhere and totally out of place, she adds, "Neither one of us is likely to get out of this, you know."

Cammi. Noted. He could appreciate the difference. As to her prediction. He calls back. "You're right. We're probably dead already, but then you survived space and I survived..." he pauses hesitating to give away too much of himself. "A lot," he finishes lamely. "The others don't understand, we should use that and get prepared while they're figuring it out."

The silence seems to consider it. The way he got through her defenses, the fact that he could still use those skills to get her if he really wanted to. It's odd how the silence can be deafening, sometimes. How she needs every advantage. Then two eyes peer at him out of the darkness, not trusting yet. "There were tracks in the woods last night. Two sets. You follow the ones into the woods, I'll check out the mountains. Let's figure out who's cheating." It's a compromise. Not together, not yet. But a chance to prove his intentions.

Batwing, no, much like Cammi wasn't Camile, he couldn't be Batwing here, not if he wanted to live, Damian nods to Cammi's proposal. "Meet back here when we're done?" he asks stepping forward away from the tree.

There's no response. She's already gone, from the faint sound of rustling. Not a big talker, this Cammi. She moves, and makes it happen.