healthy passtimes

[battorch]

Against a backdrop of a simulated, gloomy Gotham City (in the dead of a dark night, naturally), Tim stalked some thugs quietly, whom he was sure part of something larger, a puzzle he could put together from the scenario playing in his mind.

Maybe it wasn't the healthiest way to vent after everything that had happened-- and, frankly, Tim was aware of that fact-- and that he would have to be careful not to cross lines, but it was what worked for him, and that was what mattered.

It honestly helped him think, to work these things through, to fight against a more tangible problem-- it got his blood pumping, oxygen flowing, and gave him some extra layers of thought and distraction to promote more complex thinking. To sort out everything in his mind, in the simulation and, more importantly, on the ship.

Plus, he was beyond frustrated-- to have lost so much time that he could have used to work, to do something productive. To help his friends and family on the ship. Because he had missed some pretty huge events, and even though they hadn't been privy to most of what was going on, the communications posts and what information they'd found out? Was more than enough to know how bad the situation had been. And his best friend had been hurt badly. Everyone had been hurt, but Conner... He regretted not being there to help, to maybe have been able to try to keep the situation from boiling over. But he couldn't have been. Because he'd been out of commission.

Red Robin's grip tightened on his staff weapon at the thought, and he cast out a line to swing himself down, feet first, to the previously unsuspecting lowlifes.

Besides thinking, it wouldn't hurt to work out some anger before it got to be too much.

Comments

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi took in the sights of the city, moving quietly along the dark streets until he came upon Red Robin and the thugs. He didn't interrupt Tim, choosing to watch as he dispatched his enemies instead.

Was this what heroes did? Curious.

[battorch]

Tim was quite focused on the action of taking them out, save for his own busy mind. He still had to be careful, after all-- but that also meant that he wasn't going to let someone sneak up on him. He realised readily that someone had approached, but he didn't pay much mind at first. They seemed to be staying back, and there wasn't an immediate risk, either.

With one more solid hit, Tim let the last of the small group fall to the ground. There would certainly be more, but he could allow for a brief pause at least-- while he tied up the thugs, following procedure still.

"Zouichi," he said, looking up at the other man with a nod. He left it at that though.

((ooc: I hope this is okay oops. Let me know if I need to edit or anything!))

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Didn't Tim have, like... handcuffs or something? Then again, it looked like he'd have to carry around an awful lot of handcuffs in order to deal with all the people he ran around beating up.

"Hello. Am I interrupting anything?" Zouichi figured that this was either training or Tim was working something out. Maybe both, especially after what had happened to the crew on the last mission.

He looked curiously at the bound thugs. "Is this what most of your work consists of?"

[Haha, it's fine :) ]

[battorch]

Tim made a slight noise of acknowledgement, before he shook his head. "Not really," he said shortly, and it was more or less true. Yes, someone in here with him could easily be a distraction, but he could adapt readily enough, if nothing else.

"Depends on the night," he grimaced, as he finished the work, standing up more completely, and hitting a button on his belt. "There's slower nights, with petty crime like these guys, and then there are international-league-of-assassins nights." Only a partial joke there, unfortunately. "Fortunately most nights are a bit slower."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi was still looking around at their surroundings. For him, these sorts of surroundings -- the architecture, the cars, the streets -- were at least a thousand years old.

"So you're similar to a police officer, then. You apprehend criminals and do investigative work." They'd gone over this a bit before, but it was much easier to understand when he could actually see Tim in his... um. Natural habitat.

"What do you do with the leagues of assassins? Hand them over to the police?"

[battorch]

"More or less," Tim confirmed, looking over at him, and noting his straying gaze at the city. It wasn't a great impression to give of his home-- but frankly, that was what it was. It just looked nicer in the daytime, in the nicer parts of town. But there wasn't much productive to be had there. "We tend to work with them. We can take a different angle."

Of course, the assassins question was a bit more complex. "Stop them whenever and wherever we can, try to damage their organisations if possible." He shook his head, "Unfortunately they can come down pretty hard."

He paused, considering for a moment, before he pulled out his grapnel gun, and looked at Zouichi. "Do you have transportation?" he asked, though it was easy enough to come by in the Sensoriums. Maybe he could get a look at a crewmate in action-- and continue to work through his own stuff.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, Tim -- Zouichi's home was basically the same thing. It was just miles and miles of black buildings and concrete piled up on top of each other. Rather cyberpunk, actually. Maybe the occasional giant gothic castle that made no sense.

"So they're well-engrained. Or have wide support networks."

Zouichi glanced at the gun. "I do have something a little like that, if that's what you're asking. Usually I get around on the XLA if it's long-distance, though."

[battorch]

"Both, generally," Tim said gravely. At least talking about 'work' was easier. "We're talking organisations that go back thousands of years, in some cases."

He nodded to Zouichi, and said, "Whatever works for you. I prefer to go above the city, on nights like this." His bike was good to use, too-- but there was something he was always fond of, when it came to swinging above the city.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Thousands of years? Rough.

Zouichi nodded in turn, firing a single cable dart from the small device at his wrist. It arced expertly upward, coiling around the overhang of one of the nearby buildings and allowing him to propel himself upward.

He landed lightly at the top of the building.

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

Tim wasn't someone who Kara had interacted with all that much on the meatship. When she wasn't trapped in GLaDOS, or spending time with Julian, she tended to spend a lot of her time on her own.

She stumbled into this particular Sensorium, wondering if it was empty, only to find herself in the middle of Gotham City.

Please tell me Poison Ivy's not going to jump out of somewhere and try to kiss me, she thought to herself. Oh, right. Not really Gotham.

She flew up into the dark sky and watched a figure - Tim, she realized - taking out some bad guys in what she assumed would be called a furious, righteous fashion.

Crossing her arms, her bright red cape trailing behind her, Kara approached Tim, watching his fighting style, but not daring to interrupt him. From the way his mouth was set, it seemed as though he was working through some stuff, and Kara knew how important that was.

Instead, she did the Bat-like thing and clung to the shadows and watched him fight, learning what she could from him.

[battorch]

Tim was easily to blame himself for not having spent time with Kara, of course-- he wasn't particularly prone to socialising, himself.

He didn't notice her right away, focused on the fight, and maybe fighting a little too furiously. He knew he shouldn't let anger cloud his fighting, but there was a lot on his mind at the time.

He'll pick up on her presence soon enough-- but to begin, he's fighting a little too hard, and she's just a bit too far off.

((ooc: I am sorry if this is bad oops. Let me know if I need to edit anything.))

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

Not that Kara would have blamed him all that much for not socializing with her. She was certain that word had spread of Kara's earlier interactions with some of the humans, and how she'd been a bit snobby towards them.

Then, there had been the mess with Nura, at which point Kara had seriously started to doubt her sanity.

But there was time to fix all that now, and that was part of the reason why Kara was glad she'd come across Tim. There was also the fact that Tim probably knew Kon better than anyone, and she felt terrible about what had happened to her cousin.

Kara floated out of the shadows, using her telescopic vision to get a better look on the fight, but not coming close enough to distract Tim. He'd see her when he was ready.

((OOC: Awww, honey. We're good. :D))

[battorch]

Tim was becoming aware of someone watching him-- it was the kind of thing he was trained to do, after all-- but he finished with the fight first. It was something easy enough and quick enough to do after all-- it was basically child's play, dispatching these kinds of crooks, since he'd been dealing with their sort since he was a kid.

As he took out the last of them, he looked up and around him, briefly, before he turned his eyes actually up. The grim set of his face threatened to soften a little bit, but he turned back to his work, starting to tie the thugs.

"You want to come down?"

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

"I thought you'd never ask," Kara grinned as she made her way down towards Tim. As she did so, her plantsuit faded away and was replaced by her Supergirl uniform. Sure, she wasn't actually wearing it, but looking down and seeing it projected onto her, well, it felt great.

She landed a few feet behind Tim and crossed her arms, watching him finish up.

"How are you?" she asked after a long moment.

[battorch]

"Long time no see," Tim actually managed the smallest smile at her reply as she came closer to land. He understood the uniform, too-- while he had something close enough to his normal outfit on board, between the plantsuit and what accessories Stacy had provided him with, but there was still something better about wearing the familiar red instead. Plus, it made the name make more sense.

He was quiet while he finished tying the crooks, up until she asked that. That was not really a question he'd been looking forward to answering, to say the least. He didn't answer right away, before he responded with a typically flat answer, "Hnn. I'm fine." Physically, he had nothing to complain about. He was mostly just frustrated anyway.

[girl-of-steel.livejournal.com]

"GLaDOS seems to be a big fan of mine," Kara replied lightly. "I feel as though I've spent more time in there than I have out here." She reached up and ran a hand through her unnaturally (for Earth, anyway) golden hair and added, "Are you sure? Because you seem as though there's something on your mind." She walked around the crooks so that she was standing on their other side, and so that she was facing Tim. "I hate presuming things, but...is it Kon? Because I'm in that sort of headspace as well."

[battorch]

Tim managed a quiet chuckle at that. "Just got out of there myself," he explained, with a grimace. "So I can sympathize, though I've not been that popular with her. Lucky you." He shook his head a bit, then looked at her straight on now that she was facing him, keeping his poker face up. But of course she was right. At least for part of it. He softened a bit, opening up slightly to his friend. "Yeah," he said, "I can't say I'm happy to have been grabbed by GLaDOS just in time to not be there for him. Or anyone else, for that matter."

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

Punchy walks into the Sensoriums and notices immediately that this is not your average neighborhood. Oh no. This is thug territory. And Punchy's wannabe gangsta little heart starts pounding with excitement as he realizes this.

Also, against all the dankness, Punchy sort of stands out like a traffic cone.

"Yo, somebody up there set this crib up?" he yells at one of the rooftops. That's where superheroes hide, right? Surely some masked super's gotta be running this town.

[battorch]

Tim all but stops when he hears a voice calling up to him, just before he swings down. His eyes move below, locking onto the young man in a brightly coloured costume, shouting. And probably drawing attention to himself, courtesy of the nearby lowlifes. Tim had a feeling this wasn't going to be good.

He dropped below angling himself instead to end up between where the crooks and this new arrival was. "Yes," he says, voice low. "Now stay quiet for a minute." They'd already attracted some attention, which he'd rather not have done, but there was nothing he could do about it then. Of course, he also wasn't sure what to take of this guy's choice in wardrobe, either.

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

"Why?" Punchy asks, before realizing that possibly, the other costumed guy had turned off the safety protocols.

Awesome.

He cocks his head as he hears people approaching, then moves into position to back Tim up, taking a fighting stance. He watches what Tim is about to do from the corner of his eyes.

[battorch]

Tim didn't answer, not in words. Instead he just sunk into his own ready position, staff in hand, as he listened to the punks come closer. He felt the other guy take a fighting stance, too, and noted that he maybe had at least a modicum of ability-- but he could just as easily be completely inexperienced. So this was going to be practise in keeping a close eye on someone else, then.

Worst case, he could force Stacy into turning safety back on.

The Red Robin costume is dark against the city, and he shifts into shadow. And then the goons came closer, and he slipped out to quickly-- and silently-- take them out.

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

From what Punchy can tell, Tim's used to striking all ninja-like. Subtlety, speed and efficiency.

Punchy, if you couldn't guess by the name, is designed for more direct forms of confrontation. He slips further forward into the alleyway, making sure he can take easy cover behind a dumpster, and that anyone looking at him would have to turn almost entirely around to notice Tim. He flicks his goggles down, suddenly able to see significantly more due to their night vision capabilities.

As Tim moves to take out the goons, Punchy does what he does rather well - be loud and annoying. And also a decoy!

"Yo, bitches, you mad-dogging on my turf?" he calls to the goons, readying himself to either help tie them up after Tim takes them out, take cover behind the dumpster, or bring the fire escape over them down on their heads.

[battorch]

Tim almost could have smiled at that (but he kept his stone face up, for good measure). It might be an obnoxious sort of manoeuvre, but it's a well placed one all the same. It's certainly a viable tactic, and Tim can't argue that. Plus, it was working.

The hoods were effectively distracted by the much more obvious, clear target shouting at them, not noticing the darker figure in the shadow. A few muggers dive towards him, shouting right back, looking pretty set on throttling him. One pulled out a gun, and Tim's eyes focused on him first. He struck out with his staff, it connecting with a solid thwack to the base of his neck-- enough force to knock him down and out, silently, without causing too much damage. Then he moved forward to take out the other stragglers quickly, before they could alert those moving ahead. But he kept a close eye on the other. There was no way he was going to let him get hurt.

((ooc: I am not confident this is a good tag oops.))

It is a fine tag!

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

Oh, good, Tim took out the gun. Punchy'd been worried that these guys were packing heat, since that could get nasty fast. And while Punchy likes excitement, he doesn't want to see Tim or the hologram goons get hurt, nor does he especially feel like discovering what having a cap busted in him feels like.

Two more, now that Tim's taken out three. Punchy ducks behind the plastic dumpster, then, undoing the lock on the dumpster's wheels, slams his Puppet into the metal side. Propelled by the sudden new force, the dumpster goes skidding and crashes into one of the goons. Given that it was full to the brim with garbage, it won't really hurt him, but he is out for a few moments before he can get his bearings.

"I got this guy on the ropes," he calls to Tim, closing the distance between him and the final goon. He ducks a swing - oh hey, that guy has a switchblade, not cool - and aims a kick at the goon's knees.

"Could use a little help!" Because once he's locked in hand-to-hand with someone, he can't use his right hand or he might accidentally turn them into so much bloody spray against the wall.

[battorch]

Tim was actually a little bit surprised (which is generally hard to achieve) when the other teen uses some pretty heavy force to move the dumpster. And the man seems largely undamaged, but out of the picture for long enough. He hadn't expected that, but it made a certain amount of sense based on what he'd already seen of his style. He'd guess metahuman-- but he was holding something in his hand, though he couldn't get a good look at it.

He could figure that out in a few minute's time.

"Good to know," Tim called back, making his way quickly over. He noted his lack of use of the object-- he could easily take him out, but the force was likely excessive. Red Robin was silent again, now that he was close. The thug was distracted by trying to cut into Tim's unexpected partner, so he took advantage of that with a solid blow to the spine, with just enough force to send him sprawling.