An Ill-Fated Meeting (Wally, Shibyou)

[PTAV]

Thread Summary: The local government of Jump City has been hard at work organizing a parade celebration for the recent return to (near) normalcy with the Titans back in their home turf. While none of the main 5 Titans show up, the charismatic honorary member Wally West / Kid Flash makes time to appear in one of the floats making it's way down main-street.

Unobserved by the attendees, Shibyou / Pazuzu lies in wait on one of the rooftops, clad only in his camouflage get-up. As the crowd following the parade swells and the floats begin to pass far below him, Pazuzu springs into action by dousing the the crowd with a debilitating cloud of tear gas. Within the blink of an eye Kid Flash began searching the nearby buildings for the attacker, initially missing Pazuzu due to the latter's camouflage ability.

After being led astray by decoys on the other roofs, Kid Flash stumbles across Pazuzu's location and is subsequently taken by surprise.. Pazuzu manages to evade capture by breaking capsules at Kid Flash's feet and tagging the hero on the chest with his claws, momentarily incapacitating him. After leaving him with some cryptic hints Pazuzu leaves Kid Flash behind on the roof before changing his clothes and appearance, slipping out of the building and into the chaos of the crowd.

Kid Flash is left with more questions than answers, largely feeling confused and defeated.

[Wally West]

If anyone else had invited themselves to be in a parade only tangentially related to themselves, it wouldn't be illogical to think they were conceited. One could certainly argue that Kid Flash was full of himself, but he wasn't at this particular event due to some kind of superiority complex. No, he was here to enjoy himself and see the excited faces of the people in the crowd. You didn't get to see a tangible reward for helping someone out as often as you'd think, so their smiles and cheers and waving hands were a treat to him. He realized that probably sounded really cheesy when you thought about it, but it was still the way he felt.

The floats in the parade were themed after the Titans and their numerous exploits; there was one of the Titans themselves, others showing scenes of battle with various other villains, and even one with a scale model of Titans Tower. It was on this last float that Kid Flash stood, grinning widely and waving back at the crowd as the procession of floats crept forward along the empty street.

Everyone was in good spirits today, and for good reason; it was a delightfully humid day, spring was coming soon, and the Titans had settled back down in Jump. News had yet to reach Jump about the recent liberation of the Brotherhood, so the citizens had nothing to worry about. Nothing could go wrong today - and if something did, the Titans would be here to protect them.

[Shibyou Ren Aylen]

If Shibyou had an 'element' to be out of, this situation would certainly count.

So perhaps it was for the better that he wasn't actually in the crowd, and instead watching over them from his rooftop position. Lying flat on his stomach with a pair of binoculars in hand, he lazily scanned over the faces in the crowd as well as the volunteers in the parade, inquisitive as to whether anyone of actual importance (that is, importance to him) had deigned to show up to this farcical display of devotion. The obsession these people had with their so-called 'protectors' - it was illogical. The world would keep on spinning without pause, everyone would wake up the next day without fail, and humanity would keep on being flawed. Yet here and now, these people were putting these 'Titans' up on a pedestal, treating them like deities come unto the Earth.

A chilly breeze blew over him, eliciting no reaction from him besides an errant thought. Clad as he was in his second costume, chiefly a pair of color-reactive shorts, it would probably be particularly unnerving to any observers that Shibyou showed no reaction to the current weather. Decidedly less-than-optimal weather for wearing shorts, to be precise. Tucked snugly underneath his prone body was a cheap messenger bag filled with small capsules, as well as a small remote-control module with an unassuming button on it's face. He also had a gray duffelbag hidden in the stairwell which connected to this building's roof, which he intended to retrieve when his little reconnaissance mission was over.

His sweeping gaze ground to a halt as he passed over one of the floats - there were no other volunteers dressed up as heroes, and this Kid Flash appeared to behave in-line with the news footage he'd viewed beforehand. If nothing else, it was fittingly egotistical.

Faced with this revelation, he took a figurative step back as he considered his options. He'd initially come out to scout around the city, note the general behavior of the citizens, and leave a cryptic announcement to draw out the Titans for future study, but this...this opportunity was almost too tantalizing to ignore. Kid Flash's incredible speed called for a certain degree of caution, of course, but it didn't make an encounter impossible.

Shifting his skin tone and hair color to match the gravely slate pattern of the roof (with his shorts quickly following suit), his lithe hands slipped into the messenger bag, withdrawing with a good quantity of the capsules chosen at random. Moving into a hunched sitting position, he quickly flung out his arms, as if prostrating himself to the sky as the capsules arced downwards into the center of the crowd. Before they'd even fallen halfway, Shibyou had already flung himself back down on top of his supplies, lying prone and motionless.

Hearing the cheerful voices of the crowd shift into those of confusion and terror, one of his fingers snaked it's way to the remote-control before depressing the solitary button. Instantly several speakers, situated on various buildings in the vicinity, crackled to life before relaying a recorded message to the populace.

"People of Jump. You rely on the Teen Titans to protect you, to keep you safe, from the villainy they oppose and even inspired. But what of yourselves? Who is there for you, to combat the failings of humanity? Will these heroes be there for you then, when you're wasting away in a hospital bed from a terminal illness-"

Perhaps he'd laid it on a little thick, but it was purposefully melodramatic for a reason. If it was in any way an understated message, then there was the inherent possibility that the Titans wouldn't pay it any heed...

[Wally West]

It was during times like these that Wally thought about how rarely he took breaks simply to relax. In the past few months, he could count the occasions on his hands; there was the extended stay with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris just a few days ago, and...well, that was it. Which, reflecting on it now, seemed rather disheartening. Here he was, the fastest person teen in the world, and yet he couldn't seem to find spare time for a sick day here and there. It made his wide grin falter slightly, but he was quick to correct it as he resumed waving to the crowd.

As if reality took offense to his meandering train of thought, he was able to vaguely make out the small capsules flying through the air mere seconds before they hit the ground. They shattered noiselessly on the street, the loud 'hiss' of decompressing gasses threatening to drown out the crowd as a veritable fog sprung up from them. It all happened so fast that the people in the crowd hardly had time to react before they began experiencing symptoms of whatever used to be contained in the capsules. Tears were streaming down faces, people looked nauseous and were dry-heaving, and some were even twitching spastically, as if they were on strings and being jerked around by some invisible puppeteer.

Wally had been spared any ill effects from his position atop the float, and his plan of action came to him within mere milliseconds of witnessing all this. His arms quickly became two cyclonic blurs as he pulled in the air surrounding the crowd of people, drawing away the harmful gasses before reversing the rotation of his arms and expunging the cloud into the sky above them. With that done, he scanned the crowd for anyone needing his immediate attention; people were still in a bad way to be sure; they'd all inhaled some of the gas, but there wasn't really much that he could do for them right now. He did take solace in the knowledge that paramedics wouldn't be too far away, and that they'd be of better help to these people. Nevertheless, he cupped his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice as he regarded the people around him. "Hey, all you guys just sit tight and wait for the paramedics! I'm going to go find our party crasher!" He'd no sooner finished before he was off, leaving the parade float in a blur.

He'd started on top of one of the surrounding buildings, to survey the rest and see if there was anyone in dark-colored spandex with a sign saying "Kick Me" in their hands. No dice. He'd just been about to start combing over the neighborhood when several speakers sparked to life, each of them echoing some kind of villain manifesto. His eyes involuntarily narrowed through sheer annoyance, turning his head every which way to try and gauge where the sound was coming from. Several places, obviously - and while he didn't know for sure that one of those spots would house the culprit, it definitely wouldn't hurt to look around while he was taking out these speakers.

His red-and-yellow trail was left all over the block as he traversed the rooftops, zeroing in on the locations of the speakers one by one. Breaking each one in succession, he soon lost count after 13 such devices. Eventually after smashing another one, the ambient noise of the city alerted him to the fact that it was, apparently, the last one. Still left with no idea of who perpetrated the attack or where they were, he resigned to simply returning to the first rooftop and looking down at the street. The ambulances had arrived, and people were getting checked out by the first responders to try and figure out what kind of shape they were in. Wally allowed himself a small sigh of frustration as he idly scratched the back of his head.

[Shibyou Ren Aylen]

With the side of his face pressed against the gravel, Shibyou couldn't keep a grim smile from growing on his face. He wasn't a sadist; he drew no pleasure from the frantic outcry of the crowd. No, he was smiling out of anticipation. He'd enacted his impromptu plan. Even though he was largely an asocial person, he often prided himself on his ability to read people - in emphasis to this point, it was at precisely this moment in time that a sudden breeze blustered across the roof, with what sounded like a sudden displacement of air. So focused was Shibyou on keeping up the illusion of his camouflage that he scarcely even breathed, aware that if Kid Flash was looking in his direction, any possible twitch would give him away. Admittedly he hadn't anticipated Kid Flash coincidentally starting his search on the building he'd chosen, but thankfully his finger was already resting over the button when the honorary Titan dropped in.

At the sound of his speakers activating in tandem, he was obliquely aware of Kid Flash's departure before hearing the cascading sounds of destruction in isolated areas around them. Giving the situation a few more seconds to unfold before he dared move a muscle, he finally chanced it by rolling onto his side, facing towards the other side of the building. Shifting his messenger bag behind his back along with the hand holding the remote, he lay prone there for a while as he listened to the audible clues of Kid Flash's path. Keeping count, the hero was almost through all of the decoys he'd planted beforehand - only a few left.

Preparing himself for what he knew would be the trickiest part of this venture - for taking a speedster by surprise was always a risky tactic - he drew in a long breath as he centered his gaze on the small box on the edge of the roof opposite him; his last speaker, attuned to a different frequency than all the rest. There wasn't even a trace of apprehension on his face when he closed his eyes, focusing on the conscious act of holding his breath as he lay in wait.

Whoosh! The sudden displacement of air. The almost inaudible sound of someone scratching their head. If nothing else, he was at least pleasantly surprised by how consistent this younger teen was. The thought was fleeting as his finger twitched again on the button. There were a few precious moments before the speaker crackled to life, it's volume output dwarfing that of the others. If Shibyou were a more impatient man that wait would have killed him, with time seeming to dilate to a crawl as he waited for a reaction from the Titan.

It wouldn't take nearly as long this time to see if Kid Flash would take the bait. All he needed was for the distraction to give him a few meaningful seconds. If he took advantage of the confusion, he wouldn't even need to worry about Kid Flash's speed - merely his reaction time.

"The Titans can't protect you from everything-"

[Wally West]

That little sigh of frustration he'd let out earlier swiftly grew into a strong feeling of annoyance. It was during times like these that Wally realized that his usefulness was kind of, well, limited. You needed someone to run real fast, then hey, he's your guy; have to cover a lot of ground in a search? Forget about it. But finding someone who was actually hidden well? He wasn't any kind of boy detective; nope, the Boy Wonder was the one who wore the green-colored tights in this group. Wally's idea of a challenging search was more along the lines of a "Where's Waldo" book.

The corner of his mouth twitching downwards in the faintest hint of a scowl, he turned his eyes back down towards street level. No matter whether or not he found the culprit, he did take solace in the fact that he'd stopped the crowd from coming to any lasting harm. Try as he might to focus on that, he couldn't stop the questions squirming their way through his thoughts: who did this, and why? And how did they disappear so suddenly? He couldn't have taken much more than half a minute to disperse the gas from the crowd, and the perpetrator of the attack had seemed to simply vanish in that brief span of time.

The electronic crackling hit his ears first a scant few seconds before the message began to play, and he was in the process of turning his head in that direction when the last speaker started out blaring another piece of the same message the others had been playing. It's volume and hidden presence combined to startle the usually unflappable Kid Flash, causing the startled teen speedster to take a few steps back as he visibly cringed and moved to cover his ears with his hands. A rather embarrassing vocal reaction slipped from his lips, though he was thankful that it wasn't really audible over the speaker. Flustered, Wally's first thought-out reaction to the noise was both stilted and muted. _{"Oh, come o- is this guy serious?! That's so not cool!"} Despite still not having adjusted to the noise level, Wally gingerly removed his hands from his ears to cup them around his mouth.

"Did you hear me?! This is very rude, man! Noise pollution is a serious issue!"

Shaking his head, he proceeded to turn his body fully and approach the speaker with the intention of dismantling it like the others. The melodramatic propaganda spewing forth from the device was aggravating - what was the word Aunt Iris used in instances like this? It started with a 'd', but for the life of him he couldn't- oh wait, he remembered now, it was drivel Not a word he was personally familiar with, but he certainly liked the sound of it.

[Shibyou Ren Aylen]

Eyes closed tightly, his irises swirled around as they shifted to match the bright white surrounding them. His pupils were a bit slower to change, still in an in-between gray color as his eyelids flew open. He'd been spurred into action by the sound of the speaker and the almost inaudible sound of feet shifting on gravel, taking a small risk by assuming that Kid Flash was suitably distracted. A good guess. A calculated smile crept onto his face as he slowly shifted his body, moving almost spider-like before he'd positioned himself on the balls of his feet.

As he gathered himself into his usual hunched posture, he gently deposited the remote on the rooftop before lifting up the canvas bag. All the while his skin was shifting colors from the previous camouflage, taking on an onyx color as the shorts quickly followed with a solid black. His eyes seemed to shimmer for just a second as his pupils completely disappeared from sight, leaving his eyes an empty canvas.

He was vaguely aware of the costumed teen shouting on about how "rude" this distraction tactic was, but the words washed over Shibyou as he considered the bag in his hands. Now came the first real decision he'd have to make: which 'toy' to use here. Generally they all had their uses, but those were called into question since he didn't know how Kid Flash's metabolism was affected by his powers. If he used the wrong kind or too little of it, it was entirely likely that the effects would wear off of the speedster in time for this plan to backfire. And that, he simply couldn't have. The solution arrived in his mind like a sudden spark, causing him to take a momentary pause before tightening his grip on the bag.

Of course. The simplest answer. With no time to experiment, and no margin for error...

Betraying his usual reserved nature, he broke into a quiet run in order to quickly close the short distance between him and his target. The gravel shifted underneath his feet, but the chances of Kid Flash hearing that over the speaker were slim to none. After having crossed the distance in a short span of time, he very simply took the bag - filled almost to the brim with his capsules - and overturned it, letting the wave of containers crash open at his and Kid Flash's feet. Almost immediately the rooftop was enveloped in a blanket of various gasses, slightly obscuring his vision.

With the position of the honorary Titan fresh in his mind, his hand was already traveling downward in the younger teen's direction as his fingernails snapped out into razor-like claws. Clear fluid dribbled off the ends of the claws as they sailed through the air, swinging wildly in the hopes that they'd clip skin.

[Wally West]

He'd barely taken a step towards the speaker when he heard an alien sound in-between the brief pauses in the recording; something shifting, like walking on sand. He made to push it out of his mind, file it away for later, when he realized that the sound was quickly getting closer.

Twisting his upper torso around, his eyes opened wide as he caught sight of Shibyou just behind him. Taking in the unnaturally black skin and white eyes, he was obliquely aware that the towering figure - who was hunched over, with both their faces on the same level - was holding something in his hands. And the next thing he knew, his world was gone, replaced with a shroud of haze as the hissing of escaped pressure drowned out the speaker behind him.

Before he could even stop himself, Wally reflexively took a sharp intake of breath and instantly regretted it. Whatever was in the cloud of chemicals burned on his eyes and in his throat, A stuttering cough issued from his lips as he brought up a hand to shield his mouth and nose, water already streaming from his irritated eyes.

Even though he was unbalanced from the gas, he could still hear the sound of something whistling through the air before he realized what was happening. A stinging sensation reached him as he cried out in surprise, the hand clamped over his mouth moving to clutch at his chest. The spandex was slit, with four long lines beading up red from his right shoulder to just below his ribcage; within an instant they began to burn painfully.

Knowing that he had to do something fast, Wally pried his arm away from his chest and stuck both arms straight out, spinning around fast enough to generate a small localized cyclone. As the wind rapidly picked up in speed the gas was completely consumed, being funneled upwards before being ejected into the open sky above them.

Slowing himself to a stop, he almost managed to take a step before his vision blurred unnaturally and he fell to the side, intermittent coughing fits punctuated by dry heaving and an uncontrollable shaking. A cold sweat had started to break out across his skin, along with a shivering that had little to do with the gas and everything to do with the claw marks across his chest.

It was a monumental effort to lift his head up to search for his attacker, his hands repeatedly gripping the gravel underneath him and opening without a conscious thought. Speaking was another Herculean task; his words came out stuttered and slurred, "W-what...-id y-you...t'me...?"

His voice sounded foreign to him; is that really what he sounded like? It seemed different. He grunted weakly as he managed to prop himself on an elbow, before flopping over onto his back. The sunlight was almost blinding as he squinted his eyes, but given everything else, the glare didn't really bother him.

Had he the mental faculties necessary to hold onto a thought right now, it would probably be this is really bad.